BS2825 
T793 


COMMENTARY 


EPISTLES   TO   THE   SEVEN   CHUKCHES 
IN  ASIA. 


COMMENTARY 


EPISTIES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCHES 
IN  ASIA. 

KEVELATION    II.  III. 


RICHARD   CHENEVIX   TRENCH,  D.D. 


DEAN   Off  WESTMINSTXB. 


NEW    YORK: 
CHARLES    SCRIBNER,    124   GRAND    STREET. 

PUBLISHED   BY   ARRANGEMENT  TVITH   THE   AUTHOR. 
1861. 


JOHN  P.  TBOW, 

printer,  stereotypes,  and  electrotype*, 

«,  «  &  50  Greene  Street, 

N«w  York. 


PREFACE. 


In  this  publication  I  at  length  accomplish,  how- 
ever imperfectly,  a  wish  which  I  have  cherished  for 
a  large  number  of  years.  During  the  time  that  I 
fulfilled  my  pleasant  labours  at  King's  College,  I 
lectured  three  times  to  the  theological  students  there 
on  these  seven  Epistles  ;  and  the  lectures  to  them 
delivered  constitute  the  groundwork  of  the  present 
volume,  though  much  has  been  added,  and  some 
little  changed,  in  the  final  revision  which  I  have 
given  to  my  work  before  venturing  to  challenge 
a  larger  audience  for  it.  I  confess  that  each  time  I 
have  gone  over  these  Epistles  I  have  become  more 
conscious  of  the  manifold  difficulties  which  they 
present ;  and  more  than  once  have  been  half  dis- 
posed not  to  offer  to  others,  in  the  way  of  interpre- 
tation of  them,  what  has  so  little  satisfied  myself.  I 
have  not,  however,  held  my  hand.  There  has  ever 
seemed  to  me  a  very  useful  warning  contained  in 


tEEFACE 


that  German  proverb  which  says,  "  Tlie  best  is  often- 
times the  enemy  of  the  good  ; "  and  without  claim- 
ing for  an  instant  that  title  of  good  for  my  book,  I 
do  not  doubt  that  many  a  good  book  has  remained 
unwritten,  or,  perhaps,  being  written,  has  remained 
unpublished,  because  there  floated  before  the  mind's 
eye  of  the  author,  or  possible  author,  the  ideal  of  a 
better  or  a  best,  which  has  put  him  out  of  all  con- 
ceit with  his  good  ;  meanwhile  some  other,  having 
no  ideal  at  all  before  him,  either  to  stimulate  or  to 
repress,  steps  in  and  poorly  fills  the  place  which  the 
other  would  have  filled,  if  not  excellently,  yet  rea- 
sonably, well.  I  repeat  that  thus  saying,  I  am  as 
far  as  possible  from  implicitly  claiming  for  my 
book  this  quality  of  good  ;  but  still  it  may  contain, 
I  trust  it  does  contain,  enough  of  profit  in  it  to  jus- 
tify me  in  giving  it  into  the  hands  of  men. 

And  indeed,  if  there  is  much  in  the  difficulties 
with  which  these  Epistles  abound  to  repel  and  de-* 
ter,  there  is  much  also  in  these  same  difficulties  to 
allure  and  attract.  And  not  in  these  only.  The 
number  of  aspects  in  which  they  present  themselves 
to  us  as  full  of  interest  is  extraordinary. 

For  example,  the  points  of  peculiar  attraction 
which  thev  offer  to  the  student  of  ecclesiastical  his- 


PREFACE. 


toiy  are  many.  "Who  are  these  Angels  of  the 
Churches  ?  What  do  we  learn  from  their  evident 
preeminence  in  their  several  Churches,  about  the 
government  and  constitution  of  the  Church  in  the 
later  apostolic  times  ?  or  is  it  lawful  to  draw  any 
conclusions  ?  Again,  was  there  a  body  of  heretics 
actually  bearing  the  name  of  Nicolaitans  in  the 
times  of  St.  John  ?  And  those  that  had  the  doc- 
trine of  Balaam,  and  the  followers  of  the  woman 
Jezebel,  with  what  heretics  mentioned  elsewhere 
shall  we  identify  these  ?  Or,  once  more,  what  is  the 
worth  of  that  historico-prophetical  scheme  of  inter- 
pretation adopted  by  our  own  Joseph  Mede  and 
Henry  More,  and  many  others  down  even  to  the 
present  day ;  who  see  in  these  seven  Epistles  the 
mystery  of  the  whole  evolution  of  the  Church  from 
the  days  of  the  Apostles  to  the  close  of  the  present 
dispensation  ?  "Was  this  so  intended  by  the  Spirit  ? 
or  is  it  only  a  dream  and  fancy  of  men  ? 

Nor  less  is  there  a  strong  attraction  in  these  Epis- 
tles for  those  who  occupy  themselves  with  questions 
of  pure  exegesis,  from  the  fact  of  so  many  unsolved, 
or  imperfectly  solved,  problems  of  interpretation  be- 
ing found  in  them.  It  is  seldom  within  so  small  a 
compass  that  so  many  questions  to  which  no  answer 
with  perfect  confidence  can  be  given,  occur.     What, 


8  PKEFACE. 

for  instance,  is  the  exact  meaning,  and  what  the 
etymology,  of  ^aX^oX^aw?  (i.  15  ;  ii.  18)  ?  what 
the  interpretation  of  the  white  stone  with  the  new 
name  written  upon  it  (ii.  17)  ?  why  is  Pergamum 
called  "  Satan's  seat "  (ii.  13)  ?  with  many  other 
questions  of  the  same  kind. 

Nor  can  any  one,  I  think,  attentively  studying, 
fail  to  be  struck  with  what  one  might  venture  to 
call  the  entire  originality  of  these  seven  Epistles, 
with  their  entire  unlikeness,  in  some  points  at  least, 
to  any  thing  else  in  Scripture.  Contemplate,  for 
instance,  the  titles  of  Christ  here,  "  the  Amen," 
"  the  Faithful  and  True  "Witness,"  "  the  Beginning 
of  the  Creation  of  God,"  "  He  that  hath  the  seven 
Spirits  of  God,"  and  others  which  I  might  name. 
While  the  analogy  of  faith  is  perfectly  preserved, 
while  there  is  no  difficulty  in  harmonizing  what  is 
here  said  of  Christ's  person  and  offices  with  what  is 
taught  elsewhere,  yet  how  wholly  new  a  series  of 
titles  are  these.  It  is  the  same  with  the  promises  ; 
some,  it  is  true,  as  "  the  tree  of  life,"  "  the  crown 
of  life,"  "  the  new  name,"  have  been  anticipated  in 
other  parts  of  Scripture,  yet  how  many  appear  here 
for  the  lirst  time  ;  and  set  forth  what  Augustine  so 
grandly  calls  "  beatse  vita  magna  secreta,"  under 
aspects  as  novel  as  they  are  animating  and  alluring; 


PREFACE.  9 

such  are  "  the  hidden  manna,"  the  "  white  stone," 
the  "  white  raiment,"  the  "  pillar  in  the  temple  of 
God,"  and  "  the  morning  star."  And  very  striking, 
as  combined  with  this  originality,  with  this  free 
movement  of  the  Spirit  here,  is  the  strict  and  rigid 
symmetrical  arrangement  of  these  Epistles,  the  way 
in  which  they  are  all  laid  ont  upon  the  same  plan, 
distributed  according  to  exactly  the  same  ever- 
recnrring  laws.  The  surprise  which  we  feel  on 
tracing  this  for  the  first  time,  is  similar  to  that  which 
overtakes  one  who,  attempting  any  thing  like  a 
critical  study  of  the  Psalms,  discovers  the  rigid  laws 
to  which,  so  far  as  concerns  the  form,  they  are  for 
the  most  part  submitted,  or  rather,  which  they  have 
imposed  on  themselves,  and  to  which  they  delight 
to  conform. 

Then,  once  more,  the  purely  theological  interest 
of  these  Epistles  is  great.  I  have  already  referred 
to  the  titles  of  Christ,  the  entirely  novel  aspects 
under  which  the  glory  of  the  Son  of  God  is  here  set 
forth.  But  they  have  another  and  profounder  in- 
terest. Assuredly  there  is  enough  in  these  two 
chapters  alone  to  render  Arianism  entirely  unten- 
able by  any  one  who,  admitting  their  authority, 
should  consent  to  be  bound  in  their  interpretation 
by  the  ordinary  rules  of  fairness  and  truth.     On  this 


10  rREFACE. 

matter  I  have  several  times  dwelt  in  the  course  of 
my  interpretation. 

And,  finally,  the  practical  interest  of  these  Epis- 
tles in  their  bearing  on  the  whole  pastoral  and  min- 
isterial work  is  extreme.  It  is  recorded  of  the  ad- 
mirable Bengel  that  it  was  his  wTont  above  all  things 
to  recommend  the  study  of  these  Epistles  to  youth- 
ful ministers  of  Christ's  word  and  sacraments.  And 
indeed  to  them  they  are  full  of  teaching,  of  the  most 
solemn  warning,  of  the  strongest  encouragement. 
We  learn  from  these  Epistles  the  extent  to  which 
the  spiritual  condition  of  a  Church  is  dependent 
upon  that  of  its  pastors ;  the  guilt,  not  merely  of 
teaching,  but  of  allowing,  error  ;  how  there  may  be 
united  much  and  real  zeal  for  the  form  of  sound 
words  with  a  lamentable  decay  of  the  spirit  of  love  • 
or,  on  the  other  hand,  many  works  and  active  min- 
istries of  love,  with  only  too  languid  a  zeal  for  the 
truth  once  delivered ;  with  innumerable  lessons 
more.  For  one  who  has  undertaken  the  awful  min- 
istry of  souls,  I  know  almost  nothing  in  Scripture  so 
searching,  no  threatenings  so  alarming,  no  promises 
so  comfortable,  as  are  some  which  these  Epistles 
contain. 

Surely,  if  all  this  be  so,  it  is  very  much  to  be 
regretted  that  while  every  chapter  of  every  other 


PREFACE.  11 

book  of  the  New  Testament  is  set  forth  to  be  read 
in  the  Church,  and,  wherever  there  is  daily  service, 
is  read  in  the  Church,  three  times  in  the  year,  and 
some,  or  portions  of  some,  are  read  oftener  there, 
while  even  of  the  Apocalypse  itself  two  chapters 
and  portions  of  others  have  been  admitted  into  the 
service,  under  no  circumstances  whatever  can  the 
second  and  third  chapter  ever  be  heard  in  the  con- 
gregation. Any  one  who  knows,  or  at  all  guesses, 
how  small  the  amount  of  the  private  reading  of  the 
Scriptures  among  our  people,  and  the  extent,  there- 
fore, to  which  the  stated  public  reading  in  the  con- 
gregation is  the  source  of  whatever  knowledge  of 
it  the  great  mass  of  our  people  possess,  the  means 
by  which  they  are  at  all  leavened  by  it,  must 
deeply  regret  that  chapters  so  rich  in  doctrine,  in 
exhortation,  in  reproof,  in  promises,  should  thus  be 
withheld  from  them.  Certainly,  if  at  any  time  a 
reconsideration  of  the  portions  of  Scripture  ap- 
pointed to  be  read  in  the  Church  should  find  place, 
the  slight  cast  on  these  chapters,  and  in  them  on 
the  Apocalypse  itself,  with  the  injury  inflicted  on 
the  people  by  their  total  omission,  ought  not  to  be 
allowed  to  continue. 

But  to  bring  these  prefatory  remarks  to  a  close. 
"Whether  the  attempt  here  made  to  draw  out  some 


12  PREFACE. 

of  the  riches  contained  in  this  portion  of  God's 
"Word  may  have  any  interest  for  others,  I  know 
not :  but  for  myself  this  volume  must  ever  retain 
a  very  solemn  interest.  Besides  the  serious  solem- 
nity of  giving  any  work  that  professes  to  be  a  work 
for  God  into  the  hands  of  men,  I  can  never  discon- 
nect this  book  from  two  great  sorrows  which  fell 
on  me,  while  it  was  preparing  for,  and  passing 
through,  the  press  ;  sorrows  which  have  left  me  far 
poorer  than  before ;  and  yet,  I  would  humbly  hope, 
richer  too,  if  better  able  to  speak  to  others  of  truths 
whose  price  and  value  has  been  brought  home  with 
new  power  to  myself ;  if  theology  has  been  thus 
more  closely  connected  for  me  with  life,  and  with 
life's  toil  and  burden,  from  which  it  is  ever  in 
danger  of  being  dissociated  and  divorced.  It  is 
my  earnest  hope  that  so  it  may  prove  ;  and  in  this 
hope  I  humbly  commend  my  book,  with  all  its 
shortcomings,  to  Him  who  can  alone  make  it  profit- 
able to  any. 

Deanery,  Westminster, 
July  31,  1861. 


COMMEKTABY 

ON  THE 

EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA. 
Revelation  II.   III. 


INTRODUCTION,   Rev.  i.  4—20. 

Yer.  4.  "  John  to  the  seven  Chitrchcs1  in  Asia." 
— So  far  as  the  Apocalypse  is  allowed  to  witness 
for  its  own  authorship,  it  is  difficult  to  refuse  to 
find  in  these  words  a  strong  internal  argument  that 
we  have  here  an  authentic  work  of  St.  John.  The 
writer  avouches  himself  as  "  John  /  "  but,  though 
there  may  have  been  Johns  many  in  the  Church  at 
this  time,  John  the  Presbyter  and  others,  still  it 
is  well-nigh  impossible  to  conceive  any  other  but 
John  the  Apostle  who  would  have  named  himself 

1  Lest  any  should  charge  me  with  a  slovenly  omission  at  the  very 
outset  of  my  work,  let  me  observe  that  the  words  "which  are"  find- 
ing here  a  place  in  most  modern  editions  of  our  Bible,  have  no  place 
in  the  exemplar  edition  of  1611. 


14  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.        [I.  4. 

by  this  name  alone,  with  no  further  style  or  addi- 
tion. We  instinctively  feel  that  for  any  one  else 
there  would  have  been  an  affectation  of  simplicity, 
concealing  a  most  real  arrogance,  in  the  very  plain- 
ness of  this  title,  in  the  assumption  that  thus  to 
mention  himself  was  sufficient  to  ensure  his  recog- 
nition, or  that  he  had  a  right  to  appropriate  this 
name  in  so  absolute  a  manner  to  himself.  The 
unique  position  in  the  Church  of  St.  John,  the  be- 
loved Apostle,  and  now  the  sole  surviving  Apostle, 
the  one  remaining  link  between  the  faithful  of  this 
time  and  the  earthly  life  of  their  Lord,  abundantly 
justified  in  him  that  which  would  have  ill  become 
any  other ;  just  as  a  king  or  queen,  as  representa- 
tive persons  in  a  nation,  will  sign  by  their  Christian 
names  only,  but  not  any  other  besides.  Despite  all 
which  has  been  urged  to  avoid  this  conclusion,  it  is 
assuredly  either  John  the  Apostle  and  Evangelist 
who  writes  the  Apocalypse  ;  or  one  who,  assuming 
his  style  and  title,  desires  to  pass  himself  off  as 
John — in  other  words  a  falsarius.  Are  the  oppo- 
sers  of  St.  John's  authorship  of  this  Book  prepared 
for  the  alternative  ? 

Of  the  seven  Churches  which  St.  John  addresses 
here  I  reserve  to  speak  in  particular  when  we  reach 
the  nominal  enumeration  of  them  (vcr.  11) ;  but  as 
this  is  the  only  place  where  they  are  described  as 
Churches  " in  Asia"  it  may  be  needful  to  say  a 


I.  4]  INTRODUCTION,  REV.  I.  4-20.  15 

few  words  concerning  the  "  Asia "  which  is  in- 
tended. We  may  trace  two  opposite  movements 
going  on  in  the  names  of  countries,  analogous  to 
like  movements  which  are  continually  finding  place 
in  other  words.  Sometimes  they  grow  more  and 
more  inclusive,  are  applied  in  their  later  use  to  far 
wider  tracts  of  the  earth  than  they  were  in  their 
earlier.  It  is  thus  with  the  name  "  Italy."  Desig- 
nating at  one  time  only  the  extreme  southern  point 
of  the  central  peninsula  of  Europe,  the  name  crept 
up  and  up,  till  in  the  time  of  Augustus  it  obtained 
the  meaning  which  it  has  ever  since  retained,  in- 
cluding all  within  the  Alps.  "  Holland  "  is  another 
example  in  the  same  kind.  Some  names,  on  the 
other  hand,  of  the  widest  reach  at  the  beginning, 
gradually  contract  their  meaning,  till  in  the  end 
they  designate  no  more  than  a  minute  fraction 
of  that  which  they  designated  at  the  beginning. 
"  Asia  "  furnishes  a  good  example  of  this.  In  the 
New  Testament,  as  generally  in  the  language  of 
men  when  the  New  Testament  was  written,  Asia 
meant  not  what  it  now  means  for  us,  and  had  once 
meant  for  the  Greeks,  one  namely  of  the  three  great 
continents  of  the  old  world  (^Eschylus,  Prom.  412  ; 
Pindar,  Olym/p.  7.  18  ;  Herodotus,  iv.  38),  nor  yet 
even  that  region  which  geographers  about  the 
fourth  century  of  our  era  began  to  call  "  Asia 
Minor ; "  but  a  strip  of  the  western  seaboard  con- 


16  EPISTLE3  TO   THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.         [L  4. 

taining  hardly  a  third  portion  of  this  :  cf.  1  Pet.  i. 
1 ;  Acts  ii.  9  ;  vi.  9.  "  Asia  vestra,"  says  Cicero 
{Pro  Flacc.  27),  addressing  some  Asiatics,  "  con- 
stat ex  Phrygia,  Mysia,  Caria,  Lydia ; "  its  limits 
being  nearly  identical  with  those  of  the  kingdom 
which  Attains  III.  bequeathed  to  the  Roman  people. 
Take  "  Asia  "  in  this  sense,  and  there  will  be  little 
or  no  exaggeration  in  the  words  of  the  Ephesian 
silversmith,  that  "  almost  throughout  all  Asia " 
Paul  had  turned  away  much  people  from  the  ser- 
vice of  idols  (Acts  xix.  26) ;  words  which  must 
seem  to  exceed  even  the  limits  of  an  angry  hyper- 
bole to  those  not  acquainted  with  this  restricted 
use  of  the  term. 

"  Grace  be  unto  you  and  peace." — This  opening 
salutation  may  fitly  remind  us  (for  in  reading  the 
Apocalypse  we  are  often  in  danger  of  forgetting  it), 
that  the  Book  is  an  Epistle,  that,  besides  containing 
within  its  bosom  those  seven  briefer  Epistles  ad- 
dressed severally  to  the  seven  Churches  in  partic- 
ular, it  is  itself  an  Epistle  addressed  to  them  as  a 
whole,  and  as  representing  in  their  mystic  unity  all 
the  Churches,  or  the  Church  (ii.  7,  11,  23,  &c). 
Of  this  larger  Epistle,  namely  the  Apocalypse  it- 
self, these  seven  Churches  are  the  original  receiv- 
ers ;  not  as  having  a  nearer  or  greater  interest  in 
it  than  any  other  portion  of  the  Universal  Church  ; 
though  as  members  of  that  Church  they  have  an 


L  4]  INTRODUCTION,  KEY.  I.  4-20.  17 

interest  in  it  as  near  and  great  as  can  be  conceived 
(i.  3 ;  xxii.  18,  19) ;  but  on  account  of  this  their 
representative  character,  of  which  there  will  be  oc- 
casion presently  to  speak.  And  being  such  an 
Epistle,  it  opens  with  the  most  frequently  recurring 
apostolic  salutation  :  "  Grace  and  peace"  This  is 
the  constant  salutation  of  St.  Paul  (Rom.  i.  7 ;  1 
Cor.  i.  3,  &c),  with  only  the  exception  of  the  two 
Epistles  to  Timothy,  where  "  mercy  "  finds  place 
between  "  grace  and  peace ;  "  cf.  2  John  3  ;  the 
salutation  also  of  St.  Peter  in  both  his  Epistles ; 
while  St.  James  employs  the  less  distinctively 
Christian  "  greeting  "  {yaipziv,  i.  1 ;  cf.  Acts  xxiii. 
26). 

"  From  Him  which  is  and  which  was,  and 
which  is  to  come" — On  the  departure  from  the  or- 
dinary rules  of  grammar,  and  apparent  violation  of 
them  in  these  words,  airb  6  cov,  koI  6  tjv,  ical  6  ep^o- 
fievosy  there  will  be  something  more  to  say  when 
we  reach  the  first  clause  of  the  next  verse.  Doubt- 
less the  immutability  of  God,  "  the  same  yesterday, 
and  to-day,  and  for  ever  "  (Heb.  xiii.  8),  is  intended 
to  be  expressed  in  this  immutability  of  the  name 
of  God,  in  this  absolute  resistance  to  change  or 
even  modification  which  that  name  here  presents. 
"  I  am  the  Lord  ;  I  change  not  "  (Mai.  iii.  6),  this 
is  what  is  here  declared  ;  and  there  could  be  no 
stronger   consolation  for  the  faithful  than  thus  to 


18  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCHES  IN  ASIA.         [I.  4. 

be  reminded  that  He  who  is  from  everlasting  to 
everlasting,  "  with  whom  is  no  variableness,  neither 
shadow  of  turning  "  (Jam.  i.  17),  was  on  their  side  ; 
how  then  should  they  "  be  afraid  of  a  man  that 
shall  die,  and  the  son  of  man  which  shall  be  made 
as  grass  "  (Isai.  li.  12,  13)  ? 

And  yet  we  must  not  understand  the  words, 
" and  which  is  to  come"  as  though  they  declared 
the  "  seternitas  a  parte  post "  in  the  same  way  as 
"  which  was "  expresses  the  "  seternitas  a  parte 
ante."  It  is  difficult  to  understand  how  so  many 
should  assume  without  further  question  that  o  ep%c- 
/juevos  here  is  =  6  iaofievo^,  and  that  thus  we  have 
the  eternity  of  God  expressed  here,  so  far  as  it  can 
be  expressed,  in  forms  of  time  :  "  He  who  was,  and 
is,  and  shall  be"  But  how  6  ip^ofievos  should  ever 
have  this  significance  it  is  hard  to  perceive.  There 
is  a  certain  ambiguity  about  our  translation ;  it 
cannot  be  accused  of  incorrectness ;  yet,  on  the 
other  hand,  one  does  not  feel  sure  that  when  our 
Translators  rendered,  "  which  is  to  come"  they  did 
not  mean  "  which  is  to  he"  The  Rheims,  which  is 
here  kept  right  by  the  Yulgate  ("  et  qui  vent  urns 
est  "),  so  renders  the  words  as  to  exclude  ambiguity, 
"  and  which  shall  come."  If  any  urge  that  "  which 
is,  and  which  was"  present  and  past,  require  to  be 
completed  with  a  future,  " and  which  shall  be"  to 
this  it  may  be  replied,  that  plainly  they  do  not  re- 


L  4.]  INTE0DUCTI0N,  EEV.  I.  4-20.  19 

quire  to  be  so  completed,  seeing  that  at  xi.  17,  no 
such  complement  finds  place ;  for  the  words  teal  6 
£pX°fJL6V0<>  have  n0  right  to  a  place  there  in  the 
text.  And  then,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  every 
thing  to  recommend  the  grammatical  interpretation. 
What  is  the  key-note  to  this  whole  Book  ?  Surely 
it  is,  "  I  come  quickly.  The  world  seems  to  have 
all  things  its  own  way,  to  kill  my  servants  ;  but  I 
come  quickly."  With  this  announcement  the  Book 
begins,  i.  7  ;  with  this  it  ends,  xxii.  7,  12,  20  ;  and 
this  is  a  constantly  recurring  note  through  it  all, 
ii.  5,  16  ;  iii.  11 ;  vi.  17 ;  xi.  18  ;  xiv.  7 ;  xvi.  15  ; 
xviii.  20.  It  is  Christ's  word  of  comfort,  or,  where 
they  need  it,  of  warning,  to  his  friends  ;  of  terror  to 
his  foes.  Origen  further  notes  the  evidence  which 
this  language,  rightly  interpreted,  yields  for  the 
equal  divinity  of  the  Son  with  the  Father  (De 
Princ.  §  10) :  "  Ut  autem  unam  et  eandem  omni- 
potentiam  Patris  ac  Filii  esse  cognoscas,  audi  hoc 
modo  Joannem  in  Apocalypsi  dicentem,  Usee  dicit 
Dominus  Deus,  qui  est,  et  qui  erat,  et  qui  venturus 
est,  omnipotens.  Qui  enim  venturus  est,  quis  est 
alius  nisi  Christus  ?  " — There  should  be  no  comma 
dividing  uiohich  is"  from  the  clause  following, 
"and  which  was."  These  rather  form  one  sen- 
tence, which  is  to  be  balanced  with  the  other, 
"  and  which  is  to  come" 

"  And  from  the  seven  Spirits  which  are  oefore 


20  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.         [I.  4 

his  throne" — Some  have  understood  by  "  the  seven 
Spirits"  the  seven  principal  Angels,  the  heavenly 
realities  of  which  "  the  seven  princes  of  Persia  and 
Media,  which  saw  the  king's  face,  and  which  sat 
the  first  in  the  kingdom  "  (Esth.  i.  14),  the  "  seven 
counsellors  "  (Ezra  vii.  14),  were  a  kind  of  earthly 
copy  ;  room  for  whom  had  been  found  in  the  later 
Jewish  angelology  (Tob.  xii.  15),  and  the  seal  of 
allowance  set  on  the  number  seven  in  this  very 
Book  (Eev.  viii.  2).  And  these  have  not  been 
merely  Koman  Catholic  expositors,  such  as  Bossuet 
and  Ribera,  tempted  to  this  interpretation  by  their 
zeal  for  the  worshipping  of  Angels ;  but  others 
with  no  such  temptations,  as  Beza,  Hammond,  Mede 
(in  a  sermon  on  Zech.  iv.  10,  Works,  1672,  p.  40 ; 
cf.  pp.  833,  908).  They  claim  some  of  the  Fathers 
for  predecessors  in  the  same  line  of  interpretation  ; 
Hilary,  for  example,  Tract,  in  Ps.  118,  Lit.  21,  §  5. 
Clement  of  Alexandria  is  also  claimed  by  Ham- 
mond ;  but  neither  in  the  passage  cited  nor  in  the 
context  {Strom,  vi.  16)  can  I  find  that  he  affirms 
anything  of  the  kind.  But  this  interpretation, 
which  after  all  is  that  only  of  a  small  minority 
either  of  ancients  or  moderns,  must  be  rejected 
without  hesitation.  Angels,  often  as  they  are 
mentioned  in  this  Book,  are  never  called  "  Spirits." 
So  too,  in  testimony  of  their  ministering  condition, 
their  creaturely  state,  they  always  start d  (Eev.  viii. 


L  4.]  INTRODUCTION,  KEV.  I.  4-20.  21 

2  ;  Luke  i.  19  ;  1  Kings  xxii.  19,  21),  but  these 
Spirits  "  are  "  (i<TTiv)  before  the  throne.  Again, 
how  is  it  possible  to  conceive  the  Apostle  desiring 
grace  and  peace  to  the  Church  from  the  Angels, 
let  them  be  the  chiefest  Angels  which  are,  and  not 
from  God  alone  ?  or  how  can  we  imagine  Angels, 
created  beings,  interposed  here  between  the  Father 
and  the  Son,  and  thus  set  as  upon  an  equal  level 
with  Them ;  the  Holy  Ghost  meanwhile  being 
omitted,  as  according  to  this  interpretation  He 
must  be,  in  this  solemn  salutation  of  the  Churches  ? 
"Where  again  would  be  the  singular  glory  claimed 
for  Himself  by  the  Son  in  those  words,  "  He  that 
hath  the  seven  Spirits  of  God  "  (iii.  1)  ?  what  tran- 
scendant  prerogative  in  the  fact  that  these  Angels, 
no  less  than  all  created  things,  were  within  his  do- 
minion ? 

There  is  no  doubt  that  by  "  the  seven  Spirits  " 
we  are  to  understand,  not  indeed  the  sevenfold  ope- 
rations of  the  Holy  Ghost,  but  the  Holy  Ghost 
sevenfold  in  his  operations.  Neither  need  there  be 
any  difficulty  in  reconciling  this  interpretation,  as 
Mede  urges,  with  the  doctrine  of  his  personality. 
It  is  only  that  He  is  regarded  here  not  so  much  in 
his  personal  unity,  as  in  his  manifold  energies  ;  for 
"  there  ure  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same  Spirit  " 
(1  Cor.  xii.  4).  The  matter  could  not  be  put  better 
than  it  is  by  Kichard  of  St.  Victor  :  "  Et  a  septem 


22  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.  I.  5. 

Spiritibus,  id  est,  a  septiformi  Spiritu,  qui  simplex 
quidem  est  per  naturam,  septifornris  per  gratiam ;  " 
and  compare  Delitzsch,  Biol.  Psychologies  pp.  34, 
147.  The  manifold  gifts,  operations,  energies  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  are  here  represented  under  the 
number  seven,  being,  as  it  is,  the  number  of  com- 
pleteness in  the  Church.  "We  have  anticipations 
of  this  in  the  Old  Testament.  "When  the  prophet 
Isaiah  would  describe  how  the  Spirit  should  be 
given  not  by  measure  to  Him  whose  name  is  The 
Branch,  the  enumeration  of  the  gifts  is  sevenfold 
(xi.  2) ;  and  the  seven  eyes  which  rest  upon  the 
stone  which  the  Lord  has  laid  can  mean  nothing 
else  but  this  (Zech.  iii.  9  ;  cf.  iv.  10 ;  Rev.  v.  6). 
On  the  number  "  seven,"  and  its  significance  in 
Scripture  and  elsewhere,  but  above  all  in  this  Book, 
there  will  be  something  presently  to  be  said. 

Yer.  5.  "  And  from  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the 
faithful  witness." — In  the  last  of  these  seven  Epis- 
tles He  calls  Himself  "  the  faithful  and  true  wit- 
ness "  (iii.  14) ;  as,  therefore,  we  shall  meet  these 
words  again,  and  they  will  be  there  more  conve- 
niently dealt  with,  I  will  not  now  do  more  than 
quote  Richard  of  St.  Victor's  noble  comment  upon 
them :  "  Testis  fidelis,  quia  de  omnibus  quse  per 
Eum  testificanda  erant  in  mundo  testimonium 
fidele  perhibuit.  Testis  fidelis,  quia  quoecunque 
audivit  a  Patre  fideliter  discipulis  suis  nota  fecit. 


L  5.]  INTRODUCTION,  KEV.  I.  4-20.  23 

Testis  fidelis,  quia  viam  Dei  in  veritate  docuit,  nee 
Ei  cur  a  de  aliquo  fuit,  nee  personas  hominum  re- 
spexit.  Testis  fidelis,  quia  reprobis  damnationem, 
et  electis  salvationem  nunciavit.  Testis  fidelis,  quia 
veritatem  quam  verbis  docuit,  miraculis  confirma- 
yit.  Testis  fidelis,  quia  testimonium  Sibi  a  Patre 
nee  in  morte  negavit.  Testis  fidelis,  quia  de  operi- 
bus  malorum  et  bonorum  in  die  judicii  testimo- 
nium verum  dabit." — A  reference  to  the  original, 
where  the  nominative  6  jj,dpTv<z  6  tug-to?  is  in  ap- 
position to  the  genitive  *Ir)<rov  XpLo-Tov,  will  show 
that  we  have  here  one  of  the  many  departures 
from  the  ordinary  grammatical  construction,  with 
which  this  Book  abounds.  The  officious  emenda- 
tions of  transcribers  have  caused  a  large  number 
of  these,  though  not  this  one,  to  disappear  from  our 
received  text ;  but  in  any  critical  edition  of  the 
Greek  original  we  are  struck  by  their  immense 
multitude.  To  regard  these,  which  some  have 
done,  as  evidences  of  St.  John's  helplessness  in 
the  management  of  Greek,  is  to  regard  them  alto- 
gether from  a  wrong  point  of  view.  Rather,  we 
should  say,  to  take  the  case  immediately  before  us, 
the  doctrinal  interest  here  Overbears  the  grammat- 
ical. Diisterdieck  very  well:  "Das  Gewicht  der 
Yorstellungen  selbst  durchbricht  die  Schranken  der 
regelrechten  Form;  die  abrupte  Eedeweise  hebt 
die  gewaltige  Selbstandigkeit  aller  drei  Predicate." 


24:  EPISTLES   TO  THE   SEVEN  CHUKCHES  IN  ASIA.         [I.  5. 

At  all  costs  that  all-important  6  fidprvs  6  7tk7to?, 
with  the  other  two  titles  of  the  Lord  which  follow, 
shall  be  maintained  in  the  dignity  and  emphasis  of 
the  casus  rectus.  Cf.  xx.  2,  where  o  6'<£t?  6  ap%alo$ 
(changed  in  the  received  text  into  rbv  otyiv  rbv 
dpxalov)  is  in  like  manner  in  apposition  to  rbv 
SpaKovra,  and  compare  further  xiv.  12 ;  but  above 
all,  and  as  making  quite  clear  that  St.  John  adopted 
these  constructions  with  his  eyes  open,  and  for  a 
distinct  purpose,  the  remarkable  airb  6  &v  k.  t.  \. 
of  the  verse  preceding  that  now  under  considera- 
tion.1 

"  The  first  begotten  of  the  dead:'— CI  Col.  i.  18, 
where  very  nearly  the  same  language  occurs,  and 
the  same  title  is  given  to  the  Lord :  6  irpooToroKos 
rcov  vexpcov  here,  irpcor.  i/c  r.  veicpwv  there.  The 
phrases  are  not  precisely  identical  in  meaning ;  and 
even  were  they  so,  the  suggestion  of  Hengstenberg, 
that  St.  John  here  builds  upon  St.  Paul,  setting  his 
seal  to  the  prior  Apostle's  word,  seems  to  me  highly 
unnatural.  Glorious  as  this  language  is,  who  does 
not  feel  how  easily  two  Apostles,  quite  independent 
of  one  another,  might  have  arrived  at  it  to  express 
the  same  blessed  truth?  Christ  is  indeed  "  the  first 
legotten  of  the  dead"  notwithstanding  that  such 
raisings  from  the  grave  as  that  of  the  widow's  son 

1  There  is  a  good  discussion  on  these  grammatical  anomalies  in 
the  Apocalypse  in  Lucke's  Einleitung,  pp.  458-464. 


I.  5.]  INTRODUCTION,  EEV.  I.  4-20.  25 

and  Lazarus  went  before.  There  was  for  them  no 
repeal  of  the  sentence  of  death,  but  a  respite  only  ; 
not  to  say  that  even  during  their  period  of  respite 
they  carried  about  with  them  a  body  of  death. 
Christ  first  so  rose  from  the  dead,  that  He  did  not, 
and  could  not,  die  any  more  (Eom.  vi.  9) ;  in  this 
respect  was  "the  first-fruits  of  them  that  slept" 
(1  Cor.  xv.  20,  23),  the  Prince  of  life  (Acts  iii.  15). 
Alcuin:  "  Primogenitus  ideo  dicitur  quia  nullus 
ante  Ipsum  non  moriturus  surrexit."  In  this  "  first 
begotten  "  (or  "  first  born  from  the  dead,"  as  it  is 
Col.  i.  18),  I  do  not  see  the  image  of  the  grave  as 
the  womb  that  bare  him  (Xt/cra?  ras  a>S?ra?  tov 
Oclv&tov,  Acts  ii.  24) ;  but  remembering  how  often 
rifcrecv  =  yevvav,  I  should  rather  put  this  passage  in 
connection  with  Ps.  ii.  7,  "  Thou  art  my  Son ;  this 
day  have  I  begotten  Thee."  It  will  doubtless  be 
remembered  that  St.  Paul  (Acts  xiii.  33 ;  cf.  lleb. 
i.  5)  claims  the  fulfilment  of  these  words  not  in  the 
eternal  generation  before  all  time  of  the  Son ;  still 
less  in  his  human  conception  in  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin's womb  ;  but  rather  in  his  resurrection  from 
the  dead ;  "  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God  with 
power  by  the  resurrection  from  the  dead "  (Rom. 
i.  4).  On  that  verse  in  Ps.  ii.,  and  with  reference 
to  Acts  xiii.  32,  Hilary,  the  depth  and  distinctly 
theological  value  of  whose  exposition  seems  to  me 
at  this  day  very  imperfectly  recognised,  has  these 


26  EPISTLES   TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.         [I.  & 

words :  "  Filius  mens  es  Tu,  Ego  hodie  geimi  Te ; 
non  ad  Yirginis  partum,  neque  ad  earn  quas  ante 
tempora  est  generationem,  sed  ad  primogenitum  ex 
mortuis  pertinere  apostolica  auctoritas  est/'  To 
Him  first,  to  Him  above  all  others,  God  said  on 
that  day  when  He  raised  Him  from  the  dead,  and 
gave  Him  glory,  "  Thon  art  my  Son,  this  day  have 
I  begotten  Thee." 

"  And  the  Prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth" — 
A  manifest  reference  to  Ps.  ii.  2,  where  the  "  kings 
of  the  earth "  (compare  Rev.  vi.  15,  for  the  same 
phrase  used  in  the  same  sense),  appear  in  open  re- 
bellion against  the  Christ  of  God ;  cf.  Acts  iv.  26 ; 
Ps.  ex.  5 ;  lxxxix.  27 ;  Isai.  Hi.  15 ;  Matt,  xxviii. 
18.  Such  a  "Prince  of  the  Icings  of  the  earth" 
He  becomes  in  the  exaltation  which  follows  on  and 
is  most  closely  connected  with  his  humiliation  (Phil, 
ii.  9 ;  Ps,  lxxxix.  27) ;  and  shows  Himself  such  at 
his  glorious  coming,  as  set  forth  in  the  later  j^arts 
of  this  Book,  "  Lord  of  lords,  and  King  of  kings  " 
(xvii.  14 ;  xix.  16),  breaking  in  pieces  all  of  those 
"  kings  of  the  earth  "  who  set  themselves  in  battle 
array  against  Him,  receiving  the  homage  of  all 
who  are  wise  in  time  (Ps.  ii.  10-12),  and  bring 
their  glory  and  honour  to  lay  them  at  his  feet,  and 
to  receive  them  back  at  his  hands  (Rev.  xxi.  24). 

"  Unto  Him  that  hath  loved  us,  and  washed  us 
from  our  sins  in  his  own  oloodP — The  words  are 


I.  5.]  INTRODUCTION,   KEY.  I.  4-20.  27 

richer  still  in  comfort,  when  we  read,  as  we  ought, 
ayairwvTi,  and  not  aycnrrjo-avTC :    "  Unto  Him  that 
loves  us"  whose  love  rests  evermore   on   his  re- 
deemed.    There  is  in  the  Greek  theology  an  old 
and  often-recurring  play  on  the  words  \vrpov  and 
Xovrpov,  words  so  nearly  allied  in  sound,  and  both 
expressing  so  well,  though  under  images  entirely 
diverse,  the  central  benefits  which  redound  to  us 
through  the  sacrifice  of  the  death  of  Christ.     It  is 
indeed  older  than  this,  and  is  implicitly  involved 
in  the  etymology  of  Apollo,  which  Plato,  whether 
in  jest  or  in  earnest,  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Socrates 
CratyluS)  405  b.)  :   6  airoXovcov  re  /cat  airoKvwv  rcov 
fccifccbv,  these  Kaica  being  impurities  of  the  body  and 
of  the  soul.     This  near  resemblance  between  \vetv 
and  Xoveiv  has  given  rise  to  a  very  interesting  va- 
riety  of  readings   here.      Whichever  reading  we 
adopt,  \vaavTi  or  \ova-avrc,  "  who  released  us"  or 
"  who  washed  us"  the   words   yield   a  beautiful 
meaning,  as   in  either   case  they  link   themselves 
on  to  a  whole  circle  of  imagery  already  hallowed 
and  consecrated  by  Scripture  use.      If  we  adopt 
Xvaavn,  the  passage  then  connects  itself  with  all 
those  which  speak  of  Christ  having  given  Himself 
as  a  Xvrpov  (Matt.  xx.  28),  as  an  avr'CXvrpov  for  us 
(1  Tim.  ii.  6 ;  cf.  1  Pet.  i.  18 ;  Heb.  ix.  12) ;  as  re- 
deeming or  purchasing  us  (Gal.  iii.  13  ;  iv.  5  ;  Pev. 
v.  9  ;  xiv.  3,  4)  ;  and  somewhat  more  remotely  with 


28  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEV„EN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.        [I.  ft 

as  many  as  describe  the  condition  of  sin  as  a  con- 
dition of  bondage,  and  Christ  as  having  obtained 
freedom  for  ns.  If  on  the  other  hand  we  read 
XovaavTiy  then  the  passage  connects  itself  with  such 
others  as  Ps.  li.  4 ;  Isai.  i.  16,  18  ;  Ezek.  xxxvi.  25  ; 
Rev.'vii.  14;  as  Acts  xxii.  16;  Ephes.  v.  26;  Tit. 
iii.  5 ;  so,  too,  with  all  those  which  describe  the 
tcaOapLcrfios,  the  /caOapi^eiv,  as  the  end  of  Christ's 
death  (1  John  i.  7) ;  and  somewhat  more  remotely 
with  as  many  as  under  types  of  the  Levitical  law 
set  forth  the  benefits  of  this  heavenly  washing 
(]Num.  xix.  17-21).  The  weight  of  external  evidence 
is  so  nearly  balanced  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  say 
on  which  side  it  predominates.  For  Xovaavrt,,  the 
reading  of  the  received  text,  adopted  by  our  Trans- 
lators, there  is  B,  the  Yulgate  ("  et  lavit  nos "), 
Bengel,  Tischendorf,  Tregelles  ;  for  Xvcravri,  A,  C, 
and  among  critical  editions,  Mill  and  Lachmann. 
But  the  internal  evidence  I  confess  appears  to  me 
very  much  in  favour  of  retaining  the  reading  of  the 
received  text,  the  poetic  \ovaavrc  so  agreeable  to 
the  poetic  character  of  this  Booh,  rather  than  the 
somewhat  flat  Xvaavrc.  Then  it  is  quite  true  that 
redemption  may  be  contemplated  as  a  \veuv  iv  tw 
aifidrt,  but  by  how  much  better  right,  and  with 
how  much  livelier  imagery  as  a  Xovetv  iv  to  aifian, 
and  certainly  Rev.  vii.  14  points  strongly  this  way. 
Yer.  6.  "  And  hath  made  us  Icings  and  priests 


I.  6.]  INTRODUCTION,  KEV.  I.  4-20.  29 

unto  God  and  his  Father." — Or  rather,  and  accord- 
ing to  the  reading  which  must  be  preferred,  "  And 
hath  made  us  a  kingdom  {lirolnaev  97/ia?  fiacrCKelav\ 
priests  unto  God  and  his  Father"  ("Et  fecit  nos 
regnum,  et  sacerdotes  Deo,"  Ynlgate).  There  is 
a  certain  apparent  inconcinnity  in  the  abstract 
(3acri\e lav  joined  with  the  concrete  tepefc,  but  there 
can  be  no  question  about  the  reading,  and  the 
meaning  remains  exactly  the  same ;  except,  indeed, 
that  instead  of  the  emphasis  being  equally  distri- 
buted between  the  two  words,  the  larger  portion 
of  it  now  falls  on  the  first ;  and  this  agrees  with 
the  prominence  given  to  the  reigning  of  the  saints 
in  this  Book  (v.  10 ;  xx.  4,  6  ;  xxii.  5  :  cf.  Dan.  vii. 
18,  22). — The  royal  priesthood  of  the  redeemed  (see 
Exod.  xix.  6 ;  1  Pet.  ii.  9)  flows  out  of  the  royal 
priesthood  of  the  Redeemer,  a  priest  for  ever  after 
the  order  of  Melchizedek  (Ps.  ex.  4 ;  Zech.  vi.  13). 
That  the  whole  number  of  the  redeemed  shall  in 
the  world  of  glory  have  been  made  "priests  unto 
God"  is  the  analogon  as  regards  persons  to  the 
new  Jerusalem  being  without  temple,  in  other 
words,  being  all  temple,  which  is  declared  further 
on  (xxi.  22) ;  it  is  the  abolition  of  the  distinction 
between  holy  and  profane  (Zech.  xiv.  20,  21)  nearer 
and  more  remote  from  God,  through  all  being 
henceforth  holy,  all  being  brought  to  the  nearest 
whereof  it  is  capable,  to  Him. 


30  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.         [I.  7. 

"  To  Him  he  glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and 
ever.  Amen" — Cf.  1  Pet.  iv.  11.  A  fuller  dox- 
ology,  being  threefold,  occurs  iv.  0,  11 ;  and  a 
fuller  yet,  being  fourfold,  at  v.  13 ;  cf.  Jude  25 ; 
and  the  fullest  of  all,  the  sevenfold  doxology,  at 
vii.  i2 ;  cf.  1  Chron.  xxix.  11.  A  study  of  these, 
and  a  comparison  of  them  with  one  another,  would 
amply  repay  the  pains  bestowed  upon  it;  above 
all,  if  it  served  to  remind  us  of  the  prominence 
which  the  doxological  element  assumes  in  the  high- 
est worship  of  the  Church,  the  very  subordinate 
place  which  it  oftentimes  takes  in  ours.  We  can 
perhaps  make  our  requests  known  unto  God ;  and 
this  is  well,  for  it  is  prayer ;  but  to  give  glory  to 
God,  quite  apart  from  anything  to  be  directly  got- 
ten by  ourselves  in  return,  this  is  better,  for  it  is 
adoration ;  but  it  is  rarer  also,  no  less  than  better. 

Yer.  7.  "  Behold^  He  cometh  with  clouds" — 
The  constant  recurrence  of  this  language  in  all  de- 
scriptions of  our  Lord's  second  advent  is  very  re- 
markable (Dan.  vii.  13 ;  Matt.  xxiv.  30  ;  xxvi. 
04: ;  Mark  xiv.  62),  and  all  the  meaning  of  it  will 
scarcely  be  attained  till  that  great  day  of  the  Lord 
shall  have  itself  arrived.  This  much  seems  certain, 
namely,  that  this  accompaniment  of  clouds  (it  is 
fiera  rebv  vecpeXcov)  belongs  not  to  the  glory  and 
gladness,  but  to  the  terror  and  anguish,  of  that 
day ;  as  indeed  the  context  of  the  present  passage 


I.  7.]  INTRODUCTION,  REV.  I.  4-20.  31 

would  indicate.  The  clouds  have  nothing  in  com- 
mon with  the  light-cloud,  the  ve^iXrj  (fxoTeivrj  (Matt, 
xvii.  5),  "  the  glorious  privacy  of  light "  into  which 
the  Lord  was  withdrawn  for  a  while  from  the  eyes 
of  his  disciples  at  the  Transfiguration,  but  are  rather 
the  symbols  of  wrath,  fit  accompaniments  of  judg- 
ment :  "  Clouds  and  darkness  are  round  about  Him  ; 
righteousness  and  judgment  are  the  habitation  of 
his  throne  "  (Ps.  xcvii.  2  ;  cf.  xviii.  11 ;  !N"ah.  i.  3  ; 
Isai.  xix.  1). 

"  And  every  eye  shall  see  Him,  and  they  also 
which  pierced  Him,  and  all  Mildreds  of  the  earth 
shall  wail  oecause  of  Him.  Even  so,  Amen.'- — It 
will  sometimes  happen  that  a  prophecy,  severe  in 
the  Old  Testament,  by  some  gracious  turn  will  be 
transformed  from  a  threat  to  a  promise  in  the  New ; 
thus,  the  "  day  of  visitation  "  of  St.  Peter  (1  Ep.  ii. 
12)  is  another  from  the  "  day  of  visitation  "  of  the 
prophets, — that  to  be  hoped  for,  this  to  be  feared. 
But  it  is  not  so  here.  There  is  indeed  a  turn,  yet 
not  from  the  severe  to  the  gracious,  but  the  con- 
trary. The  words  of  the  prophet  Zechariah  (xii. 
10),  on  which  this  passage  and  John  xix.  37  in 
common  rest,  are  words  of  grace:  "They  shall 
look  upon  Me,  whom  they  have  pierced,  and  they 
shall  mourn  for  Him."  They  express  the  profound 
repentance  of  the  Jews,  when  the  veil  shall  be  at 
length  taken  from  their  hearts,  and  they  shall  be- 


32  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.         [I.  & 

hold  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  whom  they  crucified, 
the  Son  of  God,  the  King  of  Israel.  But  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  in  their  adaptation  here  they  speak 
quite  another  language.  They  set  forth  the  despair 
of  the  sinful  world,  of  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth  (cf. 
Matt.  xxiv.  30),  when  Christ  the  Judge  shall  come 
to  execute  judgment  on  all  that  obeyed  not  his 
gospel,  who  pierced  Him  with  their  sins ;  their  re- 
morse and  despair,  but  give  no  hint  of  their  repent- 
ance. The  closing  words,  "  Even  so,  Amen"  are 
not  to  be  taken  as  the  prophet's  devout  acquies- 
cence in  the  terribleness  of  that  judgment-day, — a 
comparison  with  xxii.  20  might  easily  lead  an  Eng- 
lish reader  into  this  misunderstanding  of  them, — 
but  as  God's  own  seal  and  ratification  of  his  own 
word. 

Yer.  8.  "  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  beginning 
and  the  ending,  saith  the  Lord." — Cf.  xxi.  6,  where 
the  words  "the  beginning  and  the  ending"  have  a 
right  to  a  place  in  the  text ;  but  not  here ;  having 
been  transferred  from  thence,  without  any  author- 
ity at  all.  He  who  is  "  Alpha  and  Omega "  (or 
better,  "  Alpha  and  f2  "),  and  thus  indeed  "  the  be- 
ginning and  the  ending,"  and  "the  first  and  the 
last "  (i.  17 ;  ii.  8),  leaves  no  room  for  any  other ;  is 
indeed  the  only  I  AM;  and  beside  Him  there  is 
no  God.  Thus  Clement  of  Alexandria  (Strom,  iv. 
25) :  rcv/cko?  yap  6  Tibs  Tracrcov  twv  Bvvdueoov  efc  ev 


I.  BL]  INTRODUCTION,  MET.  I.  4-20.  33 

e'tXovfievcDV  zeal  evovfievcov  *  8ia  tovto  A\<f>a  zeal  £2 
eifrqrai •  and  Tertullian,  bringing  ont  the  unity  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and  the  manner  in 
which,  the  glorious  consummations  of  the  latter  at- 
tach themselves  to  the  glorious  commencements  of 
the  former  (De  Mbnog.  v.) :  "  Sic  et  duas  Grsecise 
litteras  sum  mam  et  ultimam  sibi  induit  Dominus, 
initii  et  finis  concurrentium  in  se  figuras ;  uti  quem- 
admodum  a  ad  w  usque  volvitur,  et  rursus  co  ad  a 
explicatur,  ita  ostenderet  in  se  esse  et  initii  decur- 
sum  ad  fineru,  et  finis  recursum  ad  initium ;  ut  om- 
nia dispositio  in  Eum  desinens,  per  quem  ccepta  est, 
per  Sermonem  scihcet  Dei  qui  caro  factus  est,  pro- 
inde  desit  quemadmodum  et  ccephv' 

-Which  is  and  which  was,  and  which  is  to 
come,  the  Almighty.'' — Cf.  ver.  4.  TlavroKpdraip, 
which  only  occurs  once  in  the  Xew  Testament  (2 
Cor.  vi.  IS;  except  in  this  Book,  is  a  constant  word 
in  the  Septuagint.  "  The  Lord  of  Hosts  "  of  the 
Hebrew  is  there  sometimes  tcvpios  Suvdfjuecov,  or 
arpa-icov,  or  aaftacod  ;  but  oftener,  I  think,  Kvpios 
TravTOKparcop,  as  at  Jer.  iii.  19  ;  Amos  iii.  13 ;  Hab. 
ii.  13.  It  is  clear  that  the  Old  Testament  uses  of 
iravTOKpaTcop,  so  very  distinctly  fixed  as  they  are, 
must  quite  overrule  and  determine  the  Xew  Testa- 
ment employment  of  it ;  and  thus  the  ingenious 
speculations  of  Gregory  of  Xyssa,  and  other  Greek 
Fathers  (see  Suicer,  s.  v.),  in  which  thev  seek  a 


3dl  EPISTLE3  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.         [I.  9 

special  meaning  for  it,  and  find  it  to  express  of 
God,  that  He  holds  all  creation  in  his  grasp,  pre- 
serving it  from  that  rain  and  collapse  which  would 
at  once  overtake  it,  if  not  evermore  sustained  by 
his  creative  Word,  prove  nothing  worth.  This, 
grand  an  attribute  as  it  is  of  the  Godhead  (Heb.  i. 
3),  is  assuredly  not  that  which  specially  lies  in 
iravTOKpaTop,  for  it  is  not  that  which  it  brought 
from  the  earlier  Covenant. 

Yer.  9.  "  I  John,  who  also  am  your  brother" 
— The  only  other  writer  either  in  the  Old  Testament 
or  the  Xew  who  uses  this  style  is  Daniel — "  I  Dan- 
iel "  (vii.  28 ;  ix.  2 ;  x.  2).  It  is  one  of  the  many 
points  of  resemblance,  small  and  great,  between  this 
Book  and  that  of  Daniel.  The  zeal,  represented  by 
"also"  in  our  Version,  and  modifying  this  whole 
clause,  should  have  no  place  in  the  text.  It  may 
have  been  suggested  by  1  Pet.  v.  1 ;  and  was  proba- 
bly inserted  by  some  who  esteemed  6  aSeX^bs  vficov 
too  humble  a  title  for  one  of  the  great  pillars  of 
the  Church ;  and  by  that  kcli  would  make  him  to 
say,  "  who,  being  an  Apostle,  am  also  a  brother." 

"And  companion  in  tribulation,  and  in  the 
kingdom  and  patience  of  Jesus  Christ." — It  has 
been  sometimes  asked,  When  was  that  prophecy 
and  promise  fulfilled  concerning  John,  that  lie 
should  drink  of  his  Lord's  cup,  and  be  baptized 
with  his  Lord's  baptism  (Matt,  xx.  22)?    The  fill- 


I.  9.]  INTRODUCTION,   EEV.  I.  4r-20.  35 

nlment  of  this  promise  and  prophecy  as  it  regarded 
his  brother  James  is  plain;    when  the  sword  of 
Herod  was  dyed  with  his  blood  (Acts  xii.  2).     It 
was  answered  rightly  by  Origen  long  ago  {In  Matt. 
torn.  xvi.  §  6,  in  fine).  Here — in  this  his  banishment 
to  Patmos ;  not  thereby  denying  that  there  must 
have  been  a  life-long  OXZtyi?  for  such  an  one  as  the 
Apostle  John,  but  only  affirming  that  the  words 
found  their  most  emphatic  fulfilment  now.     Let  us 
not  fail  to  observe  the  connexion  and  the  sequence 
— "  tribulation  "  first,  and  "  the  kingdom  "  after- 
wards ;    on   which   Richard   of    St.   Victor  well : 
"  Eecte  prsemisit,  in  tribulatione,  et  post  adclit,  in 
regno,  quia  si  compatimur,  et  corregnabimus "  (2 
Tim.  ii.  12 ;  cf.  Eom.  viii.  17 ;  1  Pet.  iv.  13).     As 
yet,  however,  while  the  tribulation  is  present,  the 
kingdom  is  only  in  hope ;    therefore  he  adds  to 
these,  as   that  which  is   the  link  between  them, 
"  and  patience  of  Jesus  Christ  /  "  cf.  Acts  xiv.  22, 
where  exactly  these  same  three,  the  tribulation,  the 
patience,  and  the  kingdom  occur.    'TirofAovr},  which 
we  have  rendered  "patience"  is  not  so  much  the 
"  patientia  "  as  the  "  perseverentia  "  of  the  Latin ; 
which  last  word  Cicero  (De  Invent,  ii.  54)  thus  de- 
fines :  "  In  ratione  bene  considerate  stabilis  et  per- 
petua  mansio  ;  "  and  Augustine  (Quwst.  lxxxiii.  qu. 
31) :  "  Honestatis  aut  utilitatis  causa  rerum  ardu- 
arum  ac  difficilium  voluntaria  ac  diuturna  perpes- 


36  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.        [I.  9. 

sio."  It  is  indeed  a  beautiful  word,  expressing  the 
brave  patience  of  the  Christian — /3a<ri\h  rcav  apercbv, 
Chrysostom  does  not  fear  to  call  it. 

"I  was  in  the  isle  that  is  called  Patmos,  for 
the  word  of  God,  and  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus 
Christ." — Patmos,  now  Patmo  or  Palmosa,  one  of 
the  Sporacles,  a  little  rocky  island  in  the  Icarian 
Sea,  S.-W.  of  Ephesus,  a  spot  in  itself  utterly  insig- 
nificant, would  have  remained  unknown  and  al- 
most unnamed,  if  this  mention  here  had  not  given 
to  it  a  name  and  a  fame  in  the  Church  for  ever. 
This  its  entire  previous  insignificance  is  slightly, 
yet  unmistakably,  indicated  in  the  words  "  that  is 
called  Patmos."  St.  John  does  not  assume  his 
readers  to  be  familiar  with  it,  any  more  than  St. 
Mark,  writing  for  those  living  at  a  distance  from 
Palestine,  with  the  Jordan  (cf.  Mark  i.  5  with  Matt, 
iii.  5).  It  is  not  so  that  a  well-known  island,  Crete 
or  Cyprus,  is  introduced  (Acts  xiii.  4).  The  depor- 
tation of  criminals,  or  those  accounted  as  such,  to 
rocky  and  desolate  islands  was,  as  is  well  known,  a 
common  punishment  among  the  Romans.  Titus, 
according  to  Suetonius,  banished  some  delators  "  in 
asperrimas  insularum  "  {Tit.  8  ;  cf.  Juvenal,  i.  73). 

The  unprejudiced  reader  will  hardly  be  per- 
suaded that  St.  John  sets  himself  forth  here  as  any 
other  than  such  a  constrained  dweller  in  Patmos, 
one  who  had  been  banished  thither  "for  the  word 


J.  9.]  INTRODUCTION,  REV.  L  4-20.  37 

of  God,  and  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ" 
Those  modern  interpreters  who  find  in  these  words 
no  reference  to  any  snch  suffering  for  the  truth's 
sake,  but  only  a  statement  on  the  writer's  part  that 
he  was  in  the  isle  of  Patmos  for  the  sake  of  preach- 
ing the  "Word  of  God,  or,  as  others,  for  the  sake  of 
receiving  a  communication  of  the  "Word  of  God, 
refuse  the  obvious  meaning  of  the  words,  which 
moreover  a  comparison  with  vi.  9 ;  xx.  4,  seems  to 
me  to  render  imperative,  for  one  which,  if  it  also 
may  possibly  lie  in  them,  has  nothing  but  this  bare 
possibility  in  its  favour.  It  is  difficult  not  to  think 
that  these  interpreters  have  been  unconsciously  in- 
fluenced by  a  desire  to  get  rid  of  the  strong  testi- 
mony for  St.  John's  authorship  of  the  Book  which 
lies  in  the  consent  of  this  declaration  with  that 
which  early  ecclesiastical  history  tells  us  about 
him,  namely,  that  for  his  steadfastness  in  the  faith 
of  Christ  he  was  by  Domitian  banished  to  Patmos, 
and  only  released  at  the  accession  of  Nerva.  The 
Apocalypse,  it  is  worth  observing  by  the  way,  has 
all  internal  evidence  of  having  been  thus  written  in 
time  of  persecution  and  by  a  confessor  of  the  truth. 
The  whole  Book  breathes  the  very  air  of  martyr- 
dom. Oftentimes  slighted  by  the  Church  in  times 
of  prosperity,  it  is  made  much  of,  and  its  precious- 
ness,  as  it  were,  instinctively  discovered,  in  times 
of  adversity  and  fiery  trial.     This  Bengel  has  well 


38  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.       [L  10. 

observed:  "In  tribulatione  fidelibus  maxime  hie 
liber  sapit.  Asiatica  Ecclesia,  prsesertini  a  flori- 
dissimo  Constantini  tempore,  minus  magni  sesti- 
mavit  hunc  librum.  Africana  Ecclesia,  cruci  magis 
obnoxia,  semper  hunc  librum  plurimi  fecit."  Ter- 
tullian  may  be  quoted  in  proof  of  this  assertion. 
How  often  does  be  seek,  now  to  strengthen  the 
faithful  with  the  promises,  and  now  to  terrify  the 
fearful  with  the  t^reatenings,  of  this  Book  (Scorp. 
12 ;  De  Cor.  15) ;  and  compare  Cyprian,  De  Ex- 
hort. Mart,  passim. 

Yer.  10.  "  I  was  in  the  Spirit  on  the  Lord's 
day." — In  one  sense  the  faithful  are  always  "  in 
the  Spirit ;  "  they  are  "  spiritual "  (1  Cor.  iii.  1, 
15);  are  aled  by  the  Spirit"  (Rom.  viii.  14); 
"walk  in  the  Spirit"  (Gal.  v.  16,  25)..  But  here, 
and  at  iv.  2;  xxi.  10  (cf.  Ezek.  xl.  2,  "in  the 
visions  of  God  "),  the  words  are  used  in  an  eminent 
and  peculiar  sense ;  they  describe  not  the  habitual 
condition  of  faithful  men,  but  an  exceptional  con- 
dition, differing  from  the  other  not  in  degree  only, 
but  in  kind ;  a  condition  in  which  there  is  a  sus- 
pension of  all  the  motions  and  faculties  of  the  nat- 
ural life ;  that  a  higher  life  may  be  called,  during 
and  through  this  suspension,  into  a  preternatural 
activity.  It  is  the  state  of  trance  or  ecstasy,  that 
is,  of  standing  out  of  oneself  (0eia  i^aXkcuyrj  rebv 
elcodoTcov  vofiLfjLwv  Plato  calls   it,  Phcedrus,  265  a, 


I.  10.]  INTEODUCTION,  KEV.  I.  4-20.  39 

and  on  its  positive  side,  ivOovo-cao-fjuos),  so  often  de- 
scribed in  Scripture  as  the  condition  of  men  to 
whom  God  would  speak  more  directly  (Acts  x.  10 ; 
cf.  xi.  5 ;  xxii.  17) ;  the  antithesis  to  it,  or  the  re- 
turn out  of  it,  being  a  yevofievos  iv  eavrco  (Acts  xii. 
11)  i  iv  tw  vot  (1  Cor.  xiv.  14). 1  St.  Paul  exactly 
describes  the  experience  of  one  who  has  passed 
through  this  state,  2  Cor.  xii.  8-4r.  That  world  of 
spiritual  realities  is  one  from  'hich  man  is  com- 
paratively estranged  so  long  as  he  dwells  in  this 
house  of  clay ;  he  has  need  to  be  transj^orted  out 
of  himself,  before  he  can  find  himself  in  the  midst 
of  and  come  into  direct  contact  with  it.  Here  we 
have  the  explanation  of  the  fact  that  the  Lord 
never  was  "  in  the  Spirit,"  namely,  because  He  was 
always  "  in  the  Spirit,"  because  He  always  moved 
in  that  region  as  his  proper  haunt  and  home. 

Separated  in  body  from  the  fellowship  of  the 
faithful,  the  beloved  Apostle  was  yet  keeping  with 
them  the  weekly  feast  of  the  resurrection  on  the 
clay  which  the  Lord  had  made  for  ever  peculiarly 

1  Augustine  (E?icm\  in  Ps.  ciii.  11):  "Mo  orante  [Acts  x.  10] 
facta  est  illi  mentis  alienatio,  quam  Grseci  ecstasin  dicunt;  id  est, 
aversa  est  mens  ejus  a  consuetudine  corporali  ad  visum  quendam 
contemplandum,  alienata  a  praesentibus."  Cf.  in  Ps.  lxvii.  28; 
Qucest.  in  Gen.  1.  1,  qu.  80;  and  Be  Div.  Qnccst.  1.  2,  qu.  1 :  "Men- 
tis alienatio  a  sensibus  corporis,  ut  spiritus  hominis  divino  Spiritu 
assumptus  capiendis  atque  intuendis  imaginibus  vacet." 


40  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.      [I.  10. 

his  own.  It  was,  as  lie  is  careful  to  declare  to  us, 
" on  the  LoroVs  Day"  which  occupied  for  the 
Church  the  place  occupied  by  the  Sabbath  for  the 
Jews,  that  he  thus  passed  out  of  himself,  and  was 
drawn  within  the  veil,  and  heard  unspeakable 
words,  and  beheld  things  which,  unless  they  had 
been  shown  by  God,  must  have  remained  for  ever 
hidden  from  mortal  gaze.  Some  have  assumed 
from  this  passage  that  yfiepa  icvpiaicr)  was  a  desig- 
nation of  Sunday  already  familiar  among  Chris- 
tians. This,  however,  seems  a  mistake.  The  name 
had  probably  its  origin  here.  A  little  later  we  find 
rjfiipa  icvpcaicr}  familiar  to  Ignatius,  as  "Dominica 
solemnia  "  to  Tertullian  (De  Animd,  c.  9  ;  cf.  Dio- 
nysius  of  Corinth,  quoted  by  Eusebius,  H.  E.  iv. 
23,  8  ;  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Strom,  vii.  12  ;  Ori- 
gen,  Con.  Cels.  viii.  22).  But  though  the  name, 
"  the  LoroVs  Day"  will  very  probably  have  had 
here  its  rise  (the  actual  form  of  the  phrase  may 
have  been  suggested  by  Kvpiaicov  Selirvov,  1  Cor.  xi. 
20), — the  thing,  the  celebration  of  the  first  day  of 
the  week  as  that  on  which  the  Lord  brake  the 
bands  of  death,  and  became  the  head  of  a  new 
creation,  called  therefore  sometimes  avaarda-Lfio^ 
rjfjbipa,  this  was  as  old  as  Christianity  itself  (John 
xx.  24-29  ;  1  Cor.  xvi.  2  ;  Acts  xx.  7 ;  Ep.  of  Bar- 
nabas, c.  15  :  ayo/xev  rrjv  r/fiipav  ttjv  oyBoijv  eh 
evcj^pocrvvrjv  :  cf.  Suicer,  s.  v.  icvpLaicrj).     The  strange 


I.  11.]  INTRODUCTION,  EEV.  I.  4-20.  41 

fancy  of  some  that  7]}iepa  fcvpia/cj]  means  here  "  the 
day  of  the  Lord,"  in  the  sense  of  "  the  day  of  judg- 
ment," intended  as  it  is  to  subserve  a  scheme  of 
Apocalyptic  interpretation  which  certainly  needs 
any  support  which  it  can  any  where  find,  has  been 
abundantly  refuted  by  Alford. 

"  And  I  heard  behind  me  cc  great  voice,  as  of  a 
trumpet" — The  wondrous  vision  which  the  Seer 
shall  behold  does  not  break  upon  him  all  at  once  ; 
he  first  hears  behind  him  "a  voice,  great  as  of  a 
trumpet"  summoning  his  attention,  and  preparing 
him  for  the  still  greater  sight  which  he  shall  see.  It 
is  a  "  great  voice,"  as  the  voice  of  the  Lord  must 
ever  be  (Ps.  xxix.  3-0 ;  lxviii.  33 ;  Dan,  x.  6 ; 
Matt.  xxiv.  31 ;  1  Thess.  iv.  16) ;  a  voice  penetrat- 
ing and  clear,  "  as  of  a  trumpet ;  "  in  which  com- 
parison there  may  be  allusion,  as  Hengstenberg  is 
sure  there  is,  to  the  divinely-instituted  rule  of  call- 
ing together  by  a  trumpet  the  congregation  of  the 
Lord,  when  He  had  any  thing  to  impart  to  them 
(Num.  x.  2 ;  Exod.  xix.  16,  19  ;  Joel  ii.  1,  15  ; 
Matt.  xxiv.  31 ;  1  Thess.  iv.  16) ;  although  this  to 
me  does  not  seem  very  probable. 

"  Saying,  What  thou  seest,  write  in  a  book,  and 
send  it  to  the  seven  Churches  which  are  in  Asia  y 
unto  Ephesus,  and  unto  Smyrna,  and  unto  Perga- 
mos,  and  unto  Thyatira,  and  unto  Sardis,  and  unto 
Philadelphia,  and  unto  LaodiceaP — The  words, 


42  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHE3  IN  ASIA.       [I.  11. 

"  lam  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  first  and  the  last," 
which,  iii  our  Yersion  follow  immediately  after 
" Saying"  have  no  right  whatever  to  stand  in  the 
text.  It  is  disputed  whether  the  "  hook  "  which  St. 
John  is  to  write,  and  having  written,  to  send  to  the 
seven  Churches,  is  this  whole  Book  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse, or  only  the  seven  shorter  Epistles  contained 
in  chapters  ii.  and  iii.  Hengstenberg  affirms  the 
last ;  but  against  the  great  body  of  interpreters, 
and,  as  I  am  persuaded,  wrongly.  "  What  thou 
seest "  must  in  that  case  be  restrained  to  ver.  12-16 
of  this  present  chapter.  All  the  rest,  to  the  end  of 
chap,  iii.,  he  will  have  heard  /  but  will  have  seen 
nothing  ;  and  moreover  ver.  19  is  decisive  that 
what  he  is  to  write  of  is  more  than  that  which  he 
has  then  seen :  "  Write  the  things  which  thou  hast 
seen,  and  the  things  which  are,  and  the  things  which 
shall  oe  hereafter" 

Doubtless  it  is  not  for  nothing  that  seven 
Churches,  neither  more  nor  less,  are  here  named. 
The  reason  of  this  lies  deeper,  than  some  suggest, 
who  will  have  these  seven  to  include  all  the  prin- 
cipal Churches  of  Asia ;  whatever  others  there 
were  being  merely  annexed  to  these.  Bat  taking 
into  account  the  rapid  spread  of  the  Gospel  in  the 
regions  of  Asia  Minor  as  recorded  in  Scripture 
(Acts  xix.  9  ;  1  Cor.  xvi.  9),  and  in  other  historical 
documents  of  a  date  very  little  later,  we  cannot 


I.  11.]  INTEODUCTION,  KEV.  L  4-20.  43 

doubt  that  toward  the  end  of  the  life  of  St.  John 
there  were  nourishing  and  important  Churches  in 
many  other  cities  of  that  region  besides  these  seven ; 
that  if  the  first  purpose  of  the  great  ascended  Bishop 
of  the  Church  had  been  to  bring  under  spiritual  re- 
view the  whole  Church  of  Asia,  in  this  case  Colosse, 
to  which  St.  Paul  addressed  an  Epistle,  and  Hiera- 
polis,  where  was  already  the  nucleus  of  a  Church  in 
the  Apostle's  time  (Col.  iv.  13),  and  where  a  little 
later  Papias  was  bishop,  and  Miletus,  the  scene  of 
apostolic  labours  (Acts  xx.  17),  and  Tralles,  called 
by  Cicero  "gravis,  ornata  et  locuples  civitas,"  to 
the  Church  in  which  city  Ignatius  wrote  an  epistle 
some  twenty  years  later,  as  he  did  to  that  in  Mag- 
nesia as  well,  these  with  others  would  scarcely  have 
been  passed  by.1     But  what  we  may  call  the  mys- 

1  There  is  an  instructive  chapter  in  Tacitus  {Annal.  iv.  55),  throw- 
ing much  light  on  the  relative  dignity  and  position,  at  a  period  a  little 
earlier  than  this,  of  the  chief  cities  in  proconsular  Asia.  He  is  de- 
scribing a  contention  which  found  place  among  eleven  of  them,  which 
should  have  the  honour  of  erecting  a  statue  and  temple  to  Tiberius. 
Among  the  eleven  contending  for  this  glorious  privilege,  which  in- 
volved as  well  the  maintaining  as  the  founding  of  this  cult,  five  out  of 
our  seven  appear.  Two,  namely  Philadelphia  and  Thyatira,  do  not 
enter  the  lists.  Laodicea,  with  others  not  included  in  this  seven,  is 
set  aside,  as  unequal  in  wealth  and  dignity  to  the  task ;  Pergamum  as 
having  already  a  temple  to  Augustus,  Ephesus  as  devoted  to  Diana, 
4  and  others  for  various  causes  ;  till  at  length  Smyrna  and  Sardis  are 
the  only  competitors  which  remain.  Of  these  the  former  is  preferred, 
mainly  on  account  of  its  greater  devotedness  in  times  past  to  the  in- 


44  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.       [I.  11. 

tical  or  symbolic  interest  overbears  and  predom- 
inates over  the  actual.  No  donbt  tliis  actual  was 
sufficiently  provided  for  in  another  way,  and  these 
seven  words  of  warning  and  encouragement  so  pen- 
etrated to  the  heart  of  things  that,  meeting  the 
needs  of  these  seven  Churches,  they  also  met  the 
needs  of  all  others  subsisting  in  similar,  or  nearly 
similar  conditions.  Typical  and  representative 
Churches,  these  embodied,  one  or  another  of  them, 
I  will  not  say  all  the  great  leading  aspects  of  the 
Church  in  its  faithfulness  or  its  unfaithfulness  ;  but 
they  embodied  a  great  many,  the  broadest  and  the 
oftenest  recurring.1  The  seven  must  in  this  point 
of  view  be  regarded  as  constituting  a  complex 
whole,  as  possessing  an  ideal  completeness.  Christ, 
we  feel  sure,  could  not  have  placed  Himself  in  the 
relation  which  He  does  to  them,  as  holding  in  his 
hand  the  seven  stars,  walking  among  the  seven 
golden  candlesticks,  these  stars  being  the  Angels 
of  the  Churches,  and  the  candlesticks  the  Churches 
themselves,  unless  they  ideally  represented  and  set 
forth,  in  some  way  or  other,  the  universal  Church, 
militant  here  upon  earth. 

terests  of  the  Roman  State,  when  as  yet  the  fortunes  of  Eome  were 
not  so  completely  in  the  ascendant  as  they  were  then. 

1  Grotius :  "  Sub  earum  nomine  tacite  comprehcndit  et  alias  Ec- 
clesias,  quia  earum  status  et  qualitates  ad  septem  quasi  genera  pos- 
eunt  revocari,  quorum  exemplum  praebent  ilia)  Asiaticae." 


I.  12.]  INTRODUCTION,  EEV.  I.  4-20.  45 

But  this,  which  I  have  here  rather  assumed  than 
proved,  together  with  another  question,  namely, 
whether  besides  possessing  this  typical  and  repre- 
sentative character,  these  seven  Epistles  are  not 
also  historico-prophetical,  do  not  unfold  the  future 
of  the  Church's  fortunes  to  the  end  of  time,  seven 
successive  stages  and  periods  of  its  growth  and  his- 
tory, has  been  so  eagerly  discussed,  has,  strangely 
enough,  roused  so  much  theological  passion,  that  I 
am  unwilling  to  treat  the  subject  with  the  brevity 
which  a  place  in  this  exposition  would  require.  I 
must  therefore  refer  the  reader  to  an  Excursus  at 
the  end  of  the  volume,  in  which  I  have  traced, 
rapidly  indeed,  but  with  some  attempt  at  com- 
pleteness, a  sketch  of  the  controversy,  and  have 
stated,  and  sought  to  justify,  the  conclusions  on  the 
points  in  debate  at  which  I  have  myself  arrived. 

"  And  I  turned  to  see  the  voice  that  spake  with' 
me.  And  being  turned^  I  saw  seven  golden  candle- 
sticks .^  Avyyla  is  a  word  condemned  by  the  Greek 
purists,  who  prefer  Xvyyiov  (Lobeck,  jPhrynichus, 
p.  313).  The  "  seven  candlesticks  " — the  rendering 
is  not  a  very  happy  one,  though  it  is  not  very  plain 
how  it  should  be  bettered — send  us  back,  and  are 
intended  to  send  us  back,  to  the  seven-branched 
candlestick,  or  candelabrum,  which  bears  ever  the 
same  name  of  Xv-^vla  in  the  Septuagint  (Exod.  xxv. 
31 ;  cf.  Heb.  ix.  2 ;  Pliilo.  Quia  Rer.  Div.  Jfrer. 


46  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCHES  IN  ASIA.        [I.  12. 

44 ;  Josephus,  B.  J.  v.  5.  5) ;  the  six  arms  of 
which  with  the  central  shaft  (/caXafilcr/coi,,  Exod. 
xxv.  31 ;  /ckd&oi,  Philo,  Vit.  Mos.  iii.  9),  made  up 
the  mystical  seven,  each  with  its  several  lamp 
(Xv^o?,  Zech.  iv.  2).  Nor  is  this  the  first  occasion 
when  that  portion  of  the  furniture  of  the  tabernacle 
has  had  a  higher  mystical  meaning  ascribed  to  it. 
Already  in  the  candlestick  all  of  gold,  which  Zech- 
ariah  saw  (iv.  2),  there  was  an  anticipation  of  this 
image ;  being  one  of  the  many  remarkable  points 
of  contact  between  his  prophecies  and  the  Apoca- 
lypse. Here,  however,  it  is  not  one  candlestick 
with  seven  branches  which  St.  John  beholds ;  but 
rather  seven  separate  candlesticks.  Nor  is  it  with- 
out a  meaning  that  the  seven  thus  take  the  place 
of  the  one.  The  Jewish  Church  was  one ;  for  it 
was  the  Church  of  a  single  people  ;  the  Christian 
Church,  that  too  is  one,  but  it  is  also  many ;  at 
once  the  "  Church  "  and  the  "  Churches."  These 
may  be  quite  independent  of  one  another,  the  only 
bond  of  union  with  one  another  which  they  abso- 
lutely require  being  that  of  common  dependence 
on  the  same  Head,  and  derivation  of  life  from  the 
same  Spirit ;  and  are  fitly  represented  by  seven, 
the  number  of  mystical  completeness. 

In  the  image  itself  by  which  the  Churches  are 
symbolized  there  is  an  eminent  fitness.  The  can- 
dlestick, or  lampstand,  as  we  must  rather  conceive 


I.  12.]  INTRODUCTION,  KEY.  I.  4r-20.  47 

it  here,  is  not  light,  but  it  is  the  bearer  of  light, 
that  which  diffuses  it,  that  which  holds  it  forth  and 
causes  it  to  shine  throughout  the  house  ;  being  the 
appointed  instrument  for  this.  It  is  thus  with  the 
Church.  God's  word,  God's  truth,  including  in  this 
all  which  He  has  declared  of  Himself  in  revealed 
religion,  is  light  (Ps.  cxix.  105  ;  Prov.  vi.  23) ;  the 
Church  is  the  light-bearer,  light  in  the  Lord  (Ephes. 
v.  8),  not  having  light  of  its  own,  but  diffusing  that 
which  it  receives  of  Him.  Each  too  of  the  faithful 
in  particular,  after  he  has  been  illuminated  (Heb. 
vi.  4),  is  a  bearer  of  the  light ;  "ye  are  the  light  of 
the  world  "  (Matt.  v.  14-16)  ;  "  lights  in  the  world, 
holding  forth  the  word  of  life  "  (Phil.  ii.  15).  In 
accordance  with  this  view  of  the  matter,  in  the  Le- 
vitical  tabernacle  the  seven-branched  candlestick 
stood  in  the  Holy  Place  (Exod.  xxvi.  35  ;  xl.  4), 
which  was  the  pattern  of  the  Church  upon  earth, 
as  the  Holy  of  Holies  was  the  pattern  of  the 
Church  in  heaven  ;  and  the  only  light  which 
the  Holy  Place  received  was  derived  from  that 
candlestick  ;  the  light  of  common  day  being  quite 
excluded  from  it,  in  sign  that  the  Lord  God  was 
the  light  thereof,  that  the  light  of  the  Church  is 
the  light  of  nature,  but  of  grace. 

These  candlesticks  are  of  gold  (cf.  Exod.  xxv. 
31;  Zech.  iv.  2),  as  so  much  else  in  this  Book; 
>c  the   golden   girdle  "    (i.    13)  ;    "  golden   crowns " 


48  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.       [I.  12. 

(iv.  4) ;  "  golden  vials  "  (v.  8) ;  "  golden  censer  " 
(viii.  3) ;  "  golden  altar  "  (ibid.) ;  "  golden  reed  " 
(xxi.  15) ;  "  the  city  of  pure  gold  "  (xxi.  18) ;  "  the 
street  of  the  city  of  pure  gold"  (xxi.  21).  No 
doubt  the  preciousness  of  all  belonging  to  the 
Church  of  God  is  indicated  by  the  predominant 
employment  of  this  the  costliest  and  most  perfect 
metal  of  all.  A  hint  no  doubt  we  have  here  of  this, 
exactly  as  in  the  Ark  and  furniture  of  the  Ark  so 
much  in  like  manner  is  of  pure  gold,  the  mercy- 
seat,  the  cherubim,  the  dishes,  spoons,  covers, 
tongs,  snuff-dishes  (Exod.  xxv.  17,  18,  29,  38),  the 
pot  which  had  manna  (Exod.  xvi.  33),1  every  thing 
in  short  which  did  not  by  its  bulk  and  consequent 
weight  absolutely  preclude  this,  and  even  that  was 
for  the  most  part  overlaid  with  gold  (Exod.  xxv. 
10,  11,  23,  24).*  But  the  mere  costliness  of  gold, 
that  it  was  of  all  metals  the  rarest,  and  therefore 
the  dearest,  this  was  not  the  only  motive  for  the 
predominant  employment  of  it.    Throughout  all  the 

1  This  was  a  golden  pot,  as  we  learn  from  Ilcb.  ix.  4 ;  cf.  LXX  in 
loc,  and  Philo,  Cong.  Erud.  Gent  §  18. 

2  Cocceius :  "  Aurum  in  figuris  et  symbolicis  locutionibus  signifi- 
cat  id  quod  est  omnium  optimum,  quod  omnia  perficit,  et  a  nullo 
perficitur ;  sed  in  se  est  perfectissimum  et  purissimum,  nullique  niuta- 
tioni  obnoxium ;  quemadmodum  aurum  omnium  metallorum  perfec- 
tissimum est,  et  ab  aliis  non  perficitur ;  sed  quibus  acccdit  ea  perficit, 
et  nee  temporis,  nee  ignis,  omnium  destructoris  violentiam  injuriam- 
que  sentit." 


L  13.]  INTRODUCTION,  KEV.  I.  4-20.  49 

ancient  East  there  was  a  sense  of  sacredness  at- 
tached to  this  metal,  which  still  to  a  great  extent 
survives.  Thus  "  golden  "  in  the  Zend-Avesta  is 
throughout  synonymous  with  heavenly  or  divine. 
So  also  in  many  Eastern  lands  while  silver  might 
be  degraded  to  profane  and  every-day  uses  of  com- 
mon life,  might  as  money  pass  from  hand  to  hand, 
"  the  pale  and  common  drudge  'twixt  man  and 
man,"  it  was  not  permitted  to  employ  gold  in  any 
services  except  only  royal  and  divine  (see  Bahr, 
Symbolik,  vol.  i.  pp.  273,  282,  292). 

Yer.  13.  "And  in  the  midst  of  the  seven  candle- 
sticks one  like  unto  the  Son  of  man^ — Some  trans- 
late "  like  unto  a  son  of  man"  that  is  to  say,  "  like 
unto  a  man,"  the  words  merely  for  them  expressing 
that  He  who  was  seen  was  in  human  shape,  and,  so 
far  as  the  appearance  warranted  the  conclusion,  the 
sharer  of  a  human  nature  (Ezek.  xxxvii.  3,  16  ; 
xxxix.  1).  The  absence  of  the  articles,  however, 
does  not  require  this  either  here  or  at  xiv.  14  ;  any 
more  than  vlbs  Qeov  (Matt,  xxvii.  54)  demands  to 
be  translated  "  a  son  of  God,"  or  irvevfia  Qeov,  "  a 
Spirit  of  God."  The  beloved  Apostle  by  this  "  like 
unto  the  Son  of  man  "  would  express  his  recogni- 
tion in  this  sublime  appearance  of  Him  whom  he 
had  once  known  on  earth,  the  born  of  the  Virgin 
Mary  ;  and  who  even  then  had  claimed  to  be  exe- 


50  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.       [I.  13. 

cutor  of  all  judgment,  because  He  was  the  Son  of 
man  (John  v.  27). 

"  Clothed  with  a  garment  down  to  the  footP — 
We  are  again  reminded  of  Daniel's  vision,  where 
in  like  manner  He  whom  the  prophet  saw  was 
"  clothed  in  linen  "  (x.  5),  or,  as  it  would  be  more 
rightly  translated,  "  in  a  long  linen  garment." 
Hohrjpns,  the  "  poderis  "  of  ecclesiastical  Latin,  is 
properly  an  adjective  here,  with  yiTtov  understood ; 
cf.  "Wisd.  xviii.  24 :  7roSr)pes  evSv/jua,  and  Xenophon, 
Qyrop.  vi.  2,  10  :  aWt?  7708^9,  a  shield  reaching 
down  to  the  feet,  such  as  the  Ovpeos  (Ephes.  vi.  16), 
and  covering  the  whole  person.  The  long  robe  is 
every  where  in  the  East  the  garment  of  dignity  and 
honour  (Gen.  xxxvii.  3  ;  Mark  xiii.  38  ;  Luke  xv. 
22) — the  association  of  dignity  with  it  probably 
resting  originally  on  the  absence  of  the  necessity 
of  labour ;  and  thus  of  loins  girt  up,  which  it  im- 
plied :  see,  on  the  other  hand,  2  Sam.  x.  4.  The 
word  nowhere  else  occurs  in  the  New  Testament, 
but  several  times  in  the  Old  ;  and  designates  there 
sometimes  the  long  linen  garment  common  to  all 
the  priests,  the  chetoneth,  "  the  holy  linen  coat " 
(Lev.  xvi.  4  ;  Exod.  xxxix.  27),  sometimes  the  High 
Priest's  "  robe  of  the  ephod  "  (Exod.  xxviii.  31 ; 
Zech.  iii.  4 ;  "Wisd.  xviii.  24)  ;  crrokrj  Sof???,  as  it  is 
called,  Ecclus.  xlviii.  7.  Yet  these  passages  must 
not  lead  us,  as  they  have  led  some,  to  regard  this 


L  13.]  INTRODUCTION,  REV.  I.  4-20.  51 

as  a  manifestation  of  Christ  in  his  priestly  character 
alone.  The  Rheims  version  indeed  renders  7roS?/p?7? 
here  "  a  priestly  garment,"  bnt  with  no  warrant  for 
so  doing.  Any  stately  garment,  any  "  Testis  tala- 
ris," may  he  indicated  by  the  word  (Eccms.  xxvii. 
8),  as  for  instance,  that  worn  by  the  Angel  of  the 
covenant  (Ezek.  ix.  2,  3).  So  too  in  Isaiah's  mag- 
nificent vision  (vi.  1),  He  was  clothed  with  a  TroSij- 
prjs,  though  the  word  does  not  there  occur,  whom 
the  prophet  beheld  sitting  as  a  King  upon  his 
throne,  and  whose  train  filled  the  temple.  The 
7roB^pT]<;}  in  fact,  is  quite  as  much  a  kingly  garment 
as  a  priestly,  even  as  Christ  presents  Himself  here 
not  only  as  the  Priest,  but  the  King,  and,  so  far  as 
there  is  any  predominance,  more  the  King  than  the 
Priest,  ruling  in  the  midst  of  his  Church. 

"  And  girt  about  the  paps  with  a  golden  girdle." 
— So  we  read  of  the  Angels  "  having  their  breasts 
girded  with  golden  girdles "  (xv.  6) ;  cf.  Ovid  : 
"  cinctseque  ad  fedora  vestes."  The  ordinary  gird- 
ing for  one  actively  engaged  was  at  the  loins  (1 
Kings  ii.  5  ;  xviii.  46  ;  Jer.  xiii.  11 ;  cf.  Luke  xii. 
35 ;  Eph.  vi.  14  ;  1  Pet.  i.  13)  ;  but  Josephus 
(Antt.  iii.  7,  2)  expressly  tells  us  that  the  Levitical 
priests  were  girt  higher  up,  about  the  breast,  or  as 
it  is  here,  "  about  the  paps "  (eiri^dovvvvrai  Kara 
o-rffios) — favouring,  as  this  higher  cincture  did,  a 
calmer,  more  majestic  movement  (see  Braun,  De 


52  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CIIUECHES  IN  ASIA.      [I.  14. 

Vest.  Ilebr.  p.  402).  The  girdle,  knitting  up  as  it 
would  do  into  a  compact  unity  all  the  scattered 
forces  of  a  man,  is  often  contemplated  as  the  sym- 
bol of  strength  and  power  (Isai.  xxii.  21 ;  Job  xii. 
18) ;  and  as  nothing  is  so  strong  as  righteousness 
and  truth,  therefore  the  prophet  foretells  of  Mes- 
siah, "  Righteousness  shall  be  the  girdle  of  his 
loins,  and  faithfulness  the  girdle  of  his  reins  "  (Isai. 
xi.  5 ;  cf.  Ephes.  vi.  14).  The  girdle  here  is 
"  golden ;  "  not  merely  with  a  golden  clasp  or 
buckle,  as  Hengstenberg,  relying  on  1  Mace.  x. 
89  ;  xi.  58  ;  xiv.  44,  where  such  appears  as  the  en- 
sign of  royalty,  would  have  it ;  but  all  of  gold ; 
cf.  xv.  7  ;  and  Dan.  x.  5  :  "  His  loins  were  girded 
with  fine  gold  of  TTphaz."  It  is  quite  true  that  the 
curious  girdle  of  the  High  Priest  was  not  golden, 
but  only  wrought  and  interwoven  with  gold  (Exod. 
xxviii.  8  ;  xxxix.  5) ;  but  this  with  other  depart- 
ures in  the  present  appearance  of  the  Lord  from 
the  investiture  of  the  High  Priest  only  goes  to  con- 
firm what  was  just  asserted,  namely,  that  we  have 
to  do  with  Him  here  not  as  the  Priest  only,  but  as 
also  the  King  in  his  Church  ;  for  it  is  in  this  direc- 
tion that  all  the  variations  tend. 

Yer.  14.  "  His  head  and  Ms  hairs  were  white 
lilce  wool,  as  white  as  snow" — Cf.  Dan.  vii.  9  : 
"  The  hair  of  his  head  was  like  the  pure  wool ; " 
wool  and  snow  being  joined  together  on  the  score 


I.  14.]  INTRODUCTION,  REV.  I.  4-20.  53 

of  their  common  whiteness  both  there  and  at  Isai. 
i.  18.  I  must  needs  consider  those  interpreters  as 
here  altogether  at  fault  who  see  in  this  whiteness 
of  the  Lord's  hairs  the  symbol  of  age,  the  hoary 
head  as  of  the  Ancient  of  Days,  which  should  in- 
spire honour  and  respect.  Augustine  himself  has 
not  escaped  this  error  {Exp.  ad  Gal.  iv.  21) : 
"  Dominus  non  nisi  ob  antiqnitatem  veritatis  in 
Apocalypsi  albo  capite  apparnit ; "  and  Yitringa 
gives  a  reference  to  Lev.  xix.  32.  That  it  is  an 
error  a  moment's  reflection  will  convince.  The 
white  hairs  of  old  age  are  at  once  the  sign  and  the 
consequence  of  the  decay  of  natural  strength,  in 
other  words,  of  death  commencing  ;  the  hair 
blanching  because  the  blood  refuses  to  circulate 
any  longer  in  these  extremities,  as  it  will  one  day 
refuse  to  circulate  in  any  part  of  the  frame.  Being 
then  this,  how  can  the  white  hairs,  the  hoary  head 
which  is  the  sign  of  weakness,  decay,  and  the  ap- 
proach of  death,  be  ascribed  to  Him  who,  as  He  is 
from,  everlasting,  so  also  is  He  to  everlasting? 
Even  the  Angel  at  the  sepulchre  is  a  veavto-fcos,  "  a 
young  man  "  (Mark  xvi.  5  ;  cf.  Zech.  ii.  4)  ;  what 
then  the  Angel's  Lord  (cf.  2  Esdr.  ii.  43,  47)  \ 

"  And  his  eyes  ivere  as  a  flame  of  fire" — Cf. 
Dan.  x.  6  :  "  His  eyes  [were]  as  lamps  of  fire." 
This  too  has  been  understood  by  some,  of  the  clear- 
sightedness of  Christ,  that  all  things  are  open  and 


54  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUEOHES   IN  ASIA.       [I.  14. 

manifest  to  the  eyes  of  Him  with  whom  we  have 
to  do.  Thus  Yitringa  :  "  Significant  perspicaciam 
divinae  et  purse  mentis  omnia  arcana  pervadentis ; " 
but  Cocceius  much  better :  "  Significat  hoc  iram 
a7rapaiT7)Tov  in  adversaries."  The  other  explana- 
tion is  insufficient.  "  His  eyes  were  as  a  flame  of 
fire"  does  not  say  merely  that  He  knows  what  is 
in  man,  that  nothing  can  escape  his  searching  pen- 
etrative glance ;  it  expresses  much  more  than  this 
— the  indignation  of  the  Holy  One  at  the  discov- 
eries of  evil  which  He  thus  makes.  These  "  eyes 
of  fire"  do  not  merely  look  through  the  hypocrite 
and  the  sinner,  but  consume  him,  him  and  his  sins 
together,  unless  indeed  he  will  suffer  them  to  con- 
sume his  sins,  that  so  he  may  live.  For  indeed  in 
the  symbolism  of  Scripture,  fire  is  throughout  the 
expression  of  the  divine  anger ;  and  seeing  that 
nothing  moves  that  anger  but  sin,  of  the  divine 
anger  against  sin  (Gen.  xix.  24 ;  Lev.  x.  2  ;  Num. 
xi.  1  ;  xvi.  35  ;  Ps.  1.  3  ;  xcvii.  3  ;  2  Kings  i.  10, 
12  ;  Ezek.  xxxviii.  22  ;  xxxix.  6  ;  Dan.  vii.  9,  10 ; 
Luke  ix.  54 ;  2  Thess.  i.  8  ;  Heb.  x.  27 ;  Jude  7 ; 
Eev.  xx.  0).  It  need  hardly  be  observed,  as  con- 
firming this  interpretation,  that  the  eyes  "flashing 
fire  are  evermore  the  utterance,  the  outward  tokens 
of  indignation  and  wrath  ;  thus  Homer  (//.  xiii. 
474)  :  6<f)6a\fM<o  8'  apa  ol  nrvpl  Xdixirerov  :  cf.  Virgil, 
JEii.  xii.  101,  102.     If  any  hesitation  existed  in 


L  15.]  INTRODUCTION,  REV.  I.  4-20.  55 

ascribing  this  meaning  to  the  symbol  here,  it  must 
be  removed  by  a  comparison  with  xix.  11,  12.  The 
whole  imagery  there  is  of  Christ  as  a  man  of  war 
coming  forth  in  his  anger  to  make  war  upon  his 
enemies,  and  the  "  eyes  as  a  flame  of  fire "  are 
again  ascribed  to  Him  there. 

Yer.  15.  "  And  his  feet  like  unto  fine  brass,  as 
if  they  burned  in  a  furnace" — The  Trohripns,  as  the 
name  sufficiently  indicates,  must  have  reached  to 
the  feet,  but  permitted  them  to  be  seen.  They 
were  no  doubt  bare  ;  as  were  the  feet  of  the  Levit- 
ical  priesthood  ministering  in  the  sanctuary.  "We 
are  no  where  indeed  expressly  told  of  these  that 
they  ministered  barefoot,  but  every  thing  leads  us 
to  this  conclusion.  Thus  while  all  the  other  parts 
of  the  priestly  investiture  are  described  with  the 
greatest  minuteness,  and  Moses  accurately  in- 
structed how  they  should  be  made,  there  is  no 
mention  of  any  covering  for  the  feet.  Then  again 
the  analogy  of  such  passages  as  Exod.  iii.  5  ;  Josh. 
v.  15,  and  the  fact  that  the  moral  idea  of  the  shoe 
is  that  of  a  defence  against  the  defilements  of  the 
earth,  of  which  defilements  there  could  be  none  in 
the  Holy  Place,  all  this  irresistibly  points  this  way. 
Plutarch's  testimony  to  the  contrary  (Symp.  iv.  6, 
2),  who  ascribes,  to  the  High  Priest  at  least,  bus- 
kins (tcoOopvovs),  cannot  be  regarded  as  of  the 
slightest  weight  on  the  other  side.     Uncovered  at 


56  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUIiCHES  IN  ASIA.       [I.  15. 

all  events  the  fer '  on  the  present  occasion  were ; 
for  St.  John  com  ares  them  to  %a\/eo\t/3az/o9 — there 
is  no  reason  why  e  should  assume  a  neuter,  %a\- 
/co\l/3avov,  as  the  lominative,  which  has  very  com- 
monly been  done  -a  word  which  we  have  trans- 
lated "fine  brass."  It  occurs  only  here  and  at  ii. 
18  ;  being,  in  all  orobability,  of  St.  John's  own 
composition  ;  and  has  much  perplexed,  we  may  say 
has  hitherto  defied,  interpreters  to  give  any  satis- 
factory explanation  of  it — to  do  more  than  guess  at 
its  etymology  and  its  meaning. 

It  has  been  suggested,  and  the  suggestion  is  as 
old  as  Arethas, — it  is  indeed  older,  for  the  Syriac 
and  the  Ethiopic  versions  rest  upon  it, — that  we  are 
to  find  Alfiavos,  or  Lebanon,  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  word,  and  that  ^aXtfoTuy&wo?  means  "  brass  of 
Mount  Lebanon,"  such  as  was  there  found  ;  or 
more  generally  "  mountain-brass,"  "  aurichalcum," 
as  it  is  in  the  Yulgate ;  in  the  first  syllable  of 
which,  as  need  hardly  be  observed,  we  are  not  to 
find  "  aurum,"  as  though  this  mixed  metal  were 
of  gold  and  brass,  and  the  word  designating  it  a 
hybrid,  partly  Latin,  partly  Greek,  but  opos,  "  ori- 
chalcum  "  (/En.  xii.  87)  =  ope^aX/co?.  So  one 
quoted  by  "Wolf:  "  Libanus  pro  monte  quolibet, 
fortasse  quod  Libanus  dederit  ejusmodi  genus  me- 
talli ;  "  which  it  has  been  further  sought  to  prove 
by  putting  together  the  promise  to  Asher,  "  Thy 


I.  15.]  INTRODUCTION,  EEV.  I.  4-20.  57 

shoes  shall  be  iron  and  brass''  "Dent,  xxxiii.  25), 
and  the  fact  that  Lebanon  was'ft  thin  the  borders 
of  this  tribe.  It  is  hardly  fair  to  irge  against  this 
etymology  the  objection  that  i  violates  the  law 
which  holds  good  in  Greek  Composite  words, 
namely,  that  the  more  important  word  should 
come  last,  and  the  merely  qual^  tative  first ;  which 
indeed  holds  good  quite  as  much  in  our  own  lan- 
guage, in  which  "  brass-mountain  "  would  signify 
something  very  different  from  "  mountain-brass." 
I  say  it  is  hardly  fair  to  urge  this,  that  the  word 
should  be  rather  XifiavoxaX/cos  than  '%a\Ko\i/3avo<;) 
because  the  same  objection  may  be  urged  against 
every  other  attempted  explanation  of  the  word,  in- 
cluding that  which  seems  to  me  the  most  probable 
of  all.  Another  suggestion,  first  made  by  Sal- 
masius,  has  found  favour  with  Ewald,  to  the  effect 
that  this  mysterious  word  is  a  somewhat  euphonic 
form  of  ^aX/eo/cAZ/iWo?,  brass  of  the  /cktfiavos,  or 
furnace ;  it  is  scarcely  likely  to  find  favour  with 
others,  and  is  not  worthy  any  serious  notice.  As 
little,  I  confess,  does  the  solution  of  the  riddle  of 
this  word,  which  "Wordsworth  has  allowed  and 
adopted,  commend  itself  to  me,  namely,  that  the 
second  part  of  the  word  is  \if3avos,  frankincense, 
brass  of  the  colour  of  frankincense,  that  is,  brass  of 
a  dark  copper  hue ;  for,  to  say  nothing  of  the  ex- 
treme unlikelihood  of  frankincense  being  sought  to 
3* 


58  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.       [I.  15. 

suggest  what  the  colour  was,  this  part  of  the  de- 
scription is  thus  put  in  direct  opposition  with  all 
the  rest.  Every  thing  else  is  light,  fire,  of  a  white 
shining  brightness  ;  the  feet  must  be  so  as  well. 

The  explanation  which  satisfies  this,  as  well  as 
other  conditions,  and  commends  itself  above  any 
other,  is  one  first  proposed  by  Bochart  (in  a  learned 
disquisition,  De  Animal.  S.  Script,  pars  ii.  c.  xvi. 
p.  $83) ;  and  since  adopted  by  Grotius,  Yitringa, 
Ilengstenberg,  and  others.  Bochart  sees  in  ycCkico- 
Xlfiavos,  a  hybrid  formation,  the  combination  of  a 
Greek  word  and  a  Hebrew,  yakicbs,  and  )zh  =  "  al- 
bare,"  to  make  white ;  brass  which  in  tTie  furnace 
has  attained  what  we  call  "  white  heat."  In  this 
word  on  a  small  scale,  as  in  the  Apocalypse  itself 
on  a  larger,  the  two  sacred  tongues,  Greek  and  He- 
brew, will  thus  be  wonderfully  married.  If  this 
be  the  key  of  the  word,  it  will  then  exactly  corre- 
spond to,  and  the  Seer  will  have  intended  to  ex- 
press by  it,  the  "  burnished  brass  "  of  the  feet  of 
the  four  living  creatures  (Ezek.  i.  7 ;  cf.  ver.  27 
and  viii.  2),  the  "polished  brass  "  of  the  feet  of 
Him  whom  Daniel  saw  on  the  banks  of  Hiddekel 
(Dan.  x.  G),  neither  "  burnished  "  nor  "  polished  " 
in  those  passages  of  our  Translation  exactly  ex- 
pressing the  force  of  the  original ;  which  the  LXX 
by  i%a<TTpd7rTCDV  in  the  first  passage,  o-TiXficov  in  the 
second  (the  Vulgate  has  well  "  candens  "  in  both), 


I.  15.]  INTRODUCTION,   liEV.  I.  4-20.  g£ 

had  more  precisely  seized.  If  tliis  be  correct,  the 
Xa\Ko\i{3avo<;  will  not  be  the  "fine"  or  the  "  shin- 
ing," but  the  "  glowing,"  brass.  This  conclusion 
is  very  much  strengthened  by  the  epexegesis,  "  as 
if  they  hurried  in  a  furnace  ;  "  words  of  explana- 
tion immediately  added  by  St.  John,  as  probably 
knowing  the  difficulty  which  his  readers  would  find 
in  this  unusual  term.  A  further  confirmation  we 
may  draw  from  a  comparison  with  x.  1,  where  feet 
as  "  pillars  of  fire"  which  can  only  be  feet  as  glow- 
ing or  burning  brass,  are  ascribed  to  the  mighty 
Angel,  who  there  appears.  This  grand  and  terrible 
image  sets  forth  to  us  Christ  in  his  power  to  tread 
down  his  enemies ;  at  once  to  tread  down  and  to 
consume  them — "  ut  potentissimum  in  conculcandis 
hostibus  "  (Marckius). 

"  And  his  voice  as  the  sound  of  many  waters" 
— Hitherto  St.  John  has  trodden  closely  on  the 
footsteps  of  Daniel  in  his  delineation  of  Him  whom 
his  eyes  beheld  ;  but  grand  as  is  the  imagery  which 
he  offers  ("  the  voice  of  his  words  [was]  like  the 
voice  of  a  multitude,"  Dan.  x.  6),  the  Seer  of  the 
New  Testament,  leaving  this,  draws  now  his  com- 
parison from  another  quarter,  from  Ezek.  xliii.  2  : 
"  his  voice  was  like  a  noise  of  many  waters  ;  "  cf. 
Ezek.  i.  24 ;  Eev.  xix.  6  ;  Jer.  1.  42  ;  Isai.  xvii.  12. 
"We  may  note,  I  think,  herein  a  special  character- 
istic of  this  wonderful  Book.     Were  it  not  that  the 


60  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCHES  IN  ASIA.       [I.  16. 

term,  "  a  mosaic,"  always  seems  to  imply,  or  to 
suggest,  something  artificial,  we  might  in  many 
parts  liken  the  Apocalypse  to  such  a  costly  mo- 
saic ;  the  precious  stones  of  which,  wrought  into 
novel  combinations  of  beauty,  have  been  brought 
from  all  the  richest  mines  of  the  Old  Testament 
and  the  New. — By  this  comparison  of  the  voice  of 
the  Lord  to  "  the  sound  of  many  waters"  is  not  to 
be  understood  the  "  prsedicatio  Evangelii "  (Vi- 
tringa),  but  the  terribleness  of  the  voice  with 
which  He  will  rebuke  his  foes  within  the  Church 
and  without. 

Yer.  16.  "  And  lie  had  in  his  right  hand  seven 
stars." — Cf.  ver.  20  ;  ii.  1 ;  iii.  1.  In  what  fashion 
we  are  to  conceive  the  Lord  as  thus  "  having  in  his 
right  hand "  these  "  seven  stars"  has  been  often 
asked,  and  variously  answered.  Is  it  as  so  many 
jewelled  rings  on  the  fingers?  The  threatened 
rejection  of  the  Laodicean  Angel  (iii.  16)  would 
then  find  a  remarkable  parallel  in  Jer.  xxii.  24 : 
"  Though  Coniah,  king  of  Judah,  were  the  signet 
upon  my  right  hand,  yet  would  I  pluck  thee 
thence."  But,  not  to  mention  other  objections, 
the  seven  stars  would  ill  distribute  themselves  on 
five  fingers.  Better  therefore  to  regard  them  as  a 
wreath  or  garland  which  He  held  in  his  right 
hand.  "  The  mystery  of  the  seven  stars  "  we  shall 
return  to  before  long  (ver.  20) ;  and  on  two  occa- 


I.  16.]  INTRODUCTION,  REV.  I.  4-20.  61 

sions  shall  have  need  to  consider  what  is  the  spir- 
itual signification  of  his  having  or  holding  these 
stars  in  his  right  hand  (ii.  1 ;  iii.  1)  ;  all  which 
may  therefore  for  the  present  be  past  over. 

"  And  out  of  his  mouth  went  a  sharp  two-edged 
sword." — rPofMJ>ala,  sometimes  pofifiaia,  in  Latin 
1  rumpia '  (Ennius,  Annal.  14  [the  passage  has  not 
reached  us],  Valerius  Flaccus,  vi.  96),  is  a  Thracian 
word  for  a  Thracian  weapon  (A.  Gellius,  x.  25  ;  cf. 
Diefenbach,  Origines  Europcece,  p.  409).  It  is 
properly  the  long  and  heavy  broadsword  {potato, 
fiapvaihriposy  Plutarch,  jEmil.  Paul.  18  ;  Livy, 
xxxi.  39),  which  the  Thracians  and  other  barbarous 
nations  used  ;  and  as  such  to  be  distinguished  from 
the  fjbdxcupa,  the  sacrificial  knife,  or  short  stabbing 
sword.  The  word,  occurring  six  times  in  the  Apoc- 
alypse, only  occurs  once  besides  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment (Luke  ii.  35).  This  sword  is  "  two-edged " 
here  (Blctto/jlos,  cf.  Heb.  iv.  12,  fjid^aipa  SlcrTOfjio^ 
=  afjLcplcrTOfjLos  =  dfifajfcns,  Homer,  II.  x.  256),  the 
sharpness  of  it  being  reckoned  as  its  mouth ;  cf. 
Heb.  xi.  34,  crropbara  fiaxaLpas,  and  Judg.  iii.  16 ; 
Ps.  cxlix.  6  ;  Prov.  v.  4  ;  Ecclus.  xxi.  4.  The 
phrase,  "  the  devouring  sword "  (2  Sam.  xviii.  8 ; 
Isai.  i.  20  ;  Jer.  ii.  30)  rests  on  the  same  image. 
Yet  it  is  not  a  mere  Hebraism  ;  but  finds  its  place 
in  classical  Greek  poetry,  and  indeed  in  Greek  prose 
as  well ;  thus  Euripides,  Biarofia  (j)dayava :  and  else- 


62  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCHES  IN  ASIA.       [I.  16- 

where,  ireke/cvs  Sictto/jlos.  As  it  is  from  the  mouth 
that  man's  word  proceeds,  so  this  sword,  not 
wielded  in  the  hand,  but  proceeding  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Son  of  God,  is  his  "Word  (compare 
Isai.  xlix.  2  :  "  He  hath  made  my  mouth  as  a  sharp 
sword  ") ;  but  his  Word,  as  it  is  also  Spirit ;  "  the 
sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of  God  " 
(Ephes.  vi.  17  ;  cf.  Heb.  it.  12).  They  fall  short  of 
the  full  meaning  of  this  emblem,  who  press  mainly 
as  the  tertium  comparationis  here  the  penetrative 
searching  power  of  the  Word  of  God,  amputating 
our  vices,  convincing  us  of  our  sins,  as  Tertullian 
{Adv.  Marc.  iii.  14) ;  Cocceius :  "  Notatur  vis  verbi 
in  conscientiam ; "  and  Henry  More  {Mystery  of 
Iniquity ',  ii.  xiv.  6)  :  "A  prophetical  symbol  of  that 
wonderful  contrition  of  heart  that  the  powerful 
Word  of  God  makes  when  sincerely  and  season- 
ably evibrated  against  the  enemies  of  his  king- 
dom." The  whole  feeling,  the  whole  sense  of  the 
passage  with  which  we  have  here  to  do,  requires 
that  we  should  take  this  sword  from  the  mouth  as 
expressing  rather  the  punishing  than  the  convin- 
cing power  of  God's  word.  With  this  sword  from 
his  mouth  He  fights  against  his  enemies  and  de- 
stroys them  ;  compare  ii.  12,  16  ;  xix.  15,  21.  The 
Word  of  the  Lord  is  no  empty  threat,  but  having 
in  readiness  to  avenge  all  disobedience ;  cf.  Hos. 
vi.  5  ;  Isai.  xi.  4 ;  2  Thess.  ii.  8  ;  Wisd.  xviii.  15, 


I.  16.]  INTRODUCTION,   REV.  I.  4-20.  63 

16. — Shall  we  give  any  spiritual  significance  to  the 
two-eclgedness  of  this  sword  ?  Many  have  so  done, 
Tertullian  for  instance  (AdvK  Jud. )  :  "  Bis  acutus 
duobus  Testamentis,  legis  antiquse,  et  legis  novas ; " 
and  Augustine,  Enarr.  in  Ps.  cxlix.  6  ;  and  Kich- 
ard  of  St.  Victor  :  "  Qui  gladius  utraque  parte 
dicitur  acutus,  quia  in  Yeteri  Testamento  ampu- 
tavit  vitia  carnalia,  in  Novo  etiam  spiritualia. 
Utraque  parte  acutus  est,  quia  qui  foris  in  nobis 
amputat  luxuriam  carnis,  intus  resecat  malitiam 
cordis.  Utraque  parte  acutus  est,  quia  in  his  qui 
contemnunt  quse  prsecepit,  corpus  et  animam  punit. 
Utraque  parte  acutus  est,  quia  malos  et  a  bonis 
discernit,  et  singulis  quod  merentur  reddit." 

"  And  his  countenance  was  as  the  sun  shineth  in 
his  strength." — Of  the  Angel  by  the  vacant  tomb 
it  is  said,  "  His  countenance  was  like  lightning  " 
(Matt,  xxviii.  3  ;  cf.  Judg.  xiii.  6) ;  here  the  coun- 
tenance of  the  Lord  is  compared  to  the  sun  "  in  his 
strength  "  (cf.  x.  1),  at  his  brightest  and  clearest,  in 
the  splendour  of  his  highest  noon,  no  veil,  no  mist, 
no  cloud  obscuring  his  brightness.  "When  He  shall 
appear,  they  that  are  his  shall  be  like  Him,  for  they 
shall  see  Him  as  He  is ;  therefore  of  them  too  it 
can  be  said  that  in  that  day  "  they  shall  shine  forth 
as  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of  their  Father  "  (Matt. 
xiii.  43  ;  cf.  "Wisd.  iii.  7).  No  doubt  if  there  had 
been   any  thing  brighter  than  the  sun,  the  Seer 


64  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES   IN  ASIA.       [I.  16. 

would  have  chosen  it  to  set  forth  the  transcendant 
and  intolerable  brightness  of  that  countenance 
which  he  now  beheld. 

This  description  of  the  glorified  Lord,  which  has 
now  been  brought  to  a  conclusion,  sublime  as  a 
purely  mental  conception,  but  intolerable,  if  we 
were  to  give  it  an  outward  form  and  expression, 
and  picture  Him  with  this  sword  proceeding  from 
his  mouth,  these  feet  as  burning  brass,  this  hair 
white  as  wool,  and  the  rest,  may  suggest  a  few  re- 
flections on  the  apocalyptic,  and  generally  the  He- 
brew symbolism,  and  the  very  significant  relations 
of  difference  and  opposition  in  which  it  stands  to 
the  Greek.  Religion  and  art  for  the  Greek  ran 
into  one  another  with  no  very  great  preponderance 
of  the  claims  of  the  former  over  the  latter.  Even 
in  his  religious  symbolism  the  sense  of  beauty,  of 
form,  of  proportion,  overrules  every  other,  and 
must  at  all  costs  find  its  satisfaction ;  so  that  the 
first  necessity  of  the  symbol  is  that  it  shall  not 
affront,  that  it  shall  satisfy  rather,  the  aesthetic 
sense.  Rather  than  it  should  offend  this,  it  would 
be  moulded  and  modified  even  to  the  serious  injury 
of  the  idea  of  which  it  was  intended  to  be  the  ex- 
ponent. But  with  the  Hebrew  symbolism  it  is  al- 
together different.  The  first  necessity  there  is  that 
the  symbol  should  set  forth  truly  and  fully  the  re- 
ligious idea  of  which  it  is  intended  to  be  the  vc- 


I.  16.]  INTPwODUCTIOX,  KEV.  I.  4-20.  65 

hide.  How  it  would  appear  when  it  clothed  itself 
in  an  outward  form  and  shape,  whether  it  would 
find  favour  and  allowance  at  the  bar  of  taste,  this 
was  quite  a  secondary  consideration ;  may  be  con- 
fidently affirmed  not  to  have  been  a  consideration 
at  all ;  for  indeed,  with  the  one  exception  of  the 
cherubim,  there  was  no  intention  that  it  should 
embody  itself  there,  but  rather  that  it  should  re- 
main ever  and  only  a  purely  mental  conception, 
the  unembodied  sign  of  an  idea.  I  may  observe, 
by  the  way,  that  no  skill  of  delineation  can  make 
the  cherubim  other  than  unsightly  objects  to  the 
eye.  Thus  in  this  present  description  of  Christ, 
sublime  and  majestic  as  it  is,  it  is  only  such  so  long 
as  we  keep  it  wholly  apart  from  any  external  em- 
bodiment. Produce  it  outwardly,  the  sword  going 
forth  from  the  mouth,  the  eyes  as  a  flame  of  fire, 
the  hair  white  as  wool,  the  feet  as  molten  brass ; 
and  each  and  all  of  these  images  violate  more  or 
less  our  sense  of  beauty.  Bengel,  missing  this  im- 
portant distinction,  lias  sought  to  give  a  picture  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  according  to  this  description,  pre- 
fixing it  to  his  German  Commentary  on  the  Apoc- 
alypse ;  a  picture  which  is  almost  degrading,  and 
only  not  deeply  offensive  to  every  feeling  of  rever- 
ence and  awe,  because  we  know  that  it  was  not  so 
intended  by  this  admirable  man.1 

1  Others  hare  done  the  same,  though  with  quite  a  different  object 


6Q  EPISTLES  TO    THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  LN  ASIA.        [I,  16. 

The  explanation  of  the  difference  does  not  lie 
altogether  in  the  fact  that  the  Greek  created  his 
symbol,  and  therefore  could  do  what  he  would 
with  his  own  ;  while  the  Hebrew  received  his  from 
God,  and  could  not  therefore  venture  to  touch  it. 
It  would  have  existed  more  or  less  without  this  dis- 
tinction between  the  given  and  the  invented,  the 
inspired  and  uninspired.  The  unsightliness,  often 
the  repulsiveness,  of  the  symbol,  so  long  as  it  is 
judged  merely  by  the  laws  of  aesthetic  beauty,  is 
common  to  all  the  religions  of  the  East.  What  an' 
ugly  sight  is  the  Artemis  multimammia  of  Ephesus, 
an  Oriental  deity,  it  need  not  be  said,  and  not  a 
Greek ;  what  monstrous  forms  the  Indian  gods, 
with  their  hundred  arms,  present.  At  the  same 
time  we  should  altogether  err  if  we  accepted  this 
as  a  mark  of  the  inferiority  of  these  nations  to  the 
Greeks.  Inferiority  in  one  sense  no  doubt  it  does 
indicate,  a  slighter  perception  of  beauty,  but  supe- 
riority in  other  and  more  important  matters,  a 
deeper  religious  earnestness,  a  feeling  upon  their 
part  that  the  essence  was  above  the  form,  a  convic- 

and  aim.  I  can  perfectly  remember  seeing  exposed  in  Carlisle's  shop- 
window  a  blasphemous  picture  with  the  title,  "The  God  of  the  Bi- 
ble," constructed  according  to  a  similar  scheme.  Two  or  three  days 
after,  a  Jew  was  brought  before  the  magistrates,  who  in  a  righteous 
indignation  had  dashed  his  hand  through  the  window,  seized  and  de- 
stroyed it ;  and  I  do  not  think  it  appeared  again. 


I.  IT.]  INTRODUCTION,  REV.  I.  4-20.  67 

tion  that  truth,  such  as  they  conceived  it,  was 
better  than  beauty,  and  that  every  thing  else,  as  of 
lesser  moment,  was  to  be  sacrificed  to  this.  But 
now  to  return  from  this  digression. 

Yer.  17.  "  And  when  I  saw  Him,  I  fell 1  at  his 
feet  as  dead.  And  He  laid  his  right  hand  upon 
me,  saying  unto  me,  Fear  not" — This,  as  is  evident, 
is  no  voluntary  act  of  homage  on  the  part  of  St. 
John,  but  an  involuntary  consequence  of  what  he 
saw.  Finding,  as  it  does,  its  parallel  in  almost  all 
manifestations  of  a  divine,  or  even  an  angelic, 
presence,  it  must  be  owned  to  contain  a  mighty, 
because  an  instinctive  witness  for  the  sinfulness  of 
man's  nature  ;  so  that  any  very  near  revelation  of 
ought  which  comes  direct  from'  heaven  fills  the 
children  of  men,  even  the  holiest  among  them,  with 
terror  and  amazement,  yea,  and  sometimes  with 
the  expectation  of  death  itself.  Examples  innume- 
rable make  plain  that  this  holds  equally  true  of 
good  men  and  of  bad  (Gen.  iii.  8  ;  Exod.  iii.  6  ; 
Judg.  xiii.  6,  20,  22  ;  1  Chron.  xxi.  20  ;  Job  xlii. 
5,  6  ;  Isai.  vi.  5  ;  Ezek.  i.  28  ;  iii.  23  ;  xliii.  3  ; 
xliv.  4 ;  Dan.  viii.  17  ;  x.  7,  8  ;  Matt.  xvii.  6  ; 
xxviii.  4,  5  ;  Mark  xvi.  5  ;  Luke  i.  12,  29  ;  v.  8  ; 
xxiv.  5  ;  John  xviii.  6  ;  Acts  ix.  4 ;  x.  4).       The 

1  On  this  second  aorist  (iireffa)  with  the  termination  of  the  first, 
an  Alexandrian  and  afterwards  a  Byzantine  form,  see  Lobeck,  Phryni- 
chics,  p.  724,  and  Sturz,  De  Dialecto  Alexandrind,  p.  61. 


68  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.       [I.  17. 

unholy,  and  all  flesh  is  such,  cannot  endure  im- 
mediate contact  with  the  holy,  the  human  with  the 
divine.  Heathen  legend  consents  here  with  Chris- 
tian truth.  Semele  must  perish,  if  Jupiter  reveals 
himself  to  her  in  his  glory,  being  consumed  in  the 
brightness  of  that  glory ;  cf.  Exod.  xxxiii.  18,  20  : 
"  Thou  canst  not  see  my  face ;  for  there  shall  no 
man  see  Me,  and  live."  For  every  man  it  is  a 
dreadful  thing  to  stand  face  to  face  with  God.  The 
beloved  disciple,  who  had  handled  the  "Word  of  life, 
lain  in  his  Lord's  bosom  in  the  days  of  his  flesh, 
can  as  little  as  any  other  endure  the  revelation  of 
his  majesty,  or  do  without  that  "Fear  not"  with 
which  that  Lord  reassures  him  here.  This  same 
"Fear  not"  is  uttered  on  similar  occasions  to 
Isaiah  (vi.  7),  to  Daniel  (x.  12),  to  the  three  at  the 
Transfiguration,  of  whom  John  himself  was  one 
(Matt.  xvii.  7).  Nor  is  this  reassurance  confined 
to  words  only  ;  the  Lord  at  the  same  time  lays  his 
right  hand  upon  him, — something  parallel  to  which 
goes  along  with  the  "  Fear  not "  of  all  the  three 
cases  just  referred  to  (cf.  Jer.  i.  0);  and  from  the 
touch  of  that  strengthening  hand  the  Seer  receives 
strength  again,  and  is  set,  no  doubt,  upon  his  feet 
once  more  (Ezek.  i.  28  ;  ii.  1,  2). 

"  I  am  the  first  and  the  last." — This  prerogative 
is  three  times  claimed  for  the  Lord  Jehovah  in 
Isaiah  (xli.  4  ;   xliv.  6  ;   xlviii.  12)  ;    and  in  like 


I.  17.]  INTRODUCTION,  KEY.  L  4-20.  69 

manner  three  times  in  this  Book  (here,  and  iL  8 ; 
xxii.  13).  It  is  the  expression  of  absolute  God- 
head :  "lam  the  first  and  the  last,  and  beside  me 
there  is  no  God  "  (Isai.  xliv.  6).  He  is  from  eter- 
nity to  eternity,  so  that  there  is  no  room  for  any 
other.  All  creation  comes  forth  from  Him  (John 
i.  1-3),  all  creation  returns  to  Him  again,  as  from 
whom  and  by  whom  and  to  whom  are  all  things. 
Not  the  semi-Socinian  expositors  alone,  as  Grotins 
and  "Wetstein,  but  others  who  lie  under  no  such 
suspicion,  Cocceius  for  instance,  and  Vitringa,  have 
here  gone  astray,  making  "first "  to  mean  the  first 
in  glory,  and  "  last "  the  last  in  humiliation ;  "  I 
am  He  who,  being  the  foremost  and  first  in  all 
honour,  became  the  lowest  and  last  in  dishonour, 
sounding  the  lowest  depths  of  ignominy  and 
shame."  This,  which  itself  is  true  (Phil.  ii.  7,  8), 
is  yet  not  the  truth  of  this  place.  That  truth  is 
nobly  expressed  in  the  comment  of  a  medieval 
theologian,  Kichard  of  St.  Victor,  more  than  once 
quoted  already :  "  Ego  sum  primus  et  novissimus. 
Primus  per  creationem,  novissimus  per  retributio- 
nem.  Primus,  quia  ante  me  non  est  formatus 
Deus ;  novissimus,  quia  post  me  alius  non  erit. 
Primus,  quia  a  me  sunt  omnia ;  novissimus,  quia 
ad  me  sunt  omnia  ;  a  me  principio,  ad  me  finem. 
Primus,  quia  Ego  sum  causa  originis ;  novissimus, 
quia  Ego  judex  et  finis." 


TO  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.       [I.  IS. 

,Ver.  18.  "  I  am  He  that  liveth  and  was  dead, 
and  behold,  1  am  alive  for  evermore.  Amen" — 
Translate  rather,  "And  the  living,  and  I  became 
dead,  and  behold,  I  am  living  for  evermore" 
Gain,  as  it  appears  to  me,  will  thus  accrue  to 
every  clause  of  the  sentence.  In  the  first  place, 
Kai,  connecting  this  verse  so  closely  with  the  one 
preceding,  will  have  its  rights,  which  are  wholly 
overlooked  in  our  Version.  Then  6  %wv  expresses 
not  so  much  that  He,  the  Speaker,  "  lived,"  as  that 
He  was  "  the  Living  One,"  the  Life  (John  i.  4 ; 
xiv.  6),  avTo&r},  having  life  in  Himself,  and  the 
fountain  and  source  of  life  to  others.  It  is  true 
that  in  one  sense  it  is  the  exclusive  prerogative  of 
the  Father  to  have  life  in  Himself,  but  a  prerog- 
ative which  He  has  communicated  with  the  Son 
(John  v.  26) ;  of  Him  too  it  may  be  said,  in  the 
words  of  the  Psalmist,  irapa  Hoi  tt^t)  fan}?  (Ps. 
xxxvi.  10,  LXX.).  To  Him  belongs  absolute  being 
(oVtw?  ehai),  as  contrasted  with  the  relative  being 
of  the  creature,  with  the  life  winch  may  be  no  life, 
seeing  that  it  inevitably  falls  under  the  dominion 
of  corruption  and  death,  so  soon  as  it  is  separated 
from  Him,  the  source  from  which  it  was  derived ; 
for  others  may  share,  but  He  only  hath,  immor- 
tality (1  Tim.  vi.  16),  being  ova  la  aOdvaro^,  ov 
fierovcna  (Theocloret).  All  this  is  included  in 
Christ's  assertion  here  of  Himself  as  6  %cov.     Being 


r.  18.]  INTEODUCTION,  EEV.   I.  4^20.  71 

thus  The  Living  One,  He  goes  on  to  say,  "  I  yet 
hecame  (iyevofirjv)  dead;  I  the  source  of  all  life 
stooped  even  to  taste  of  death."  Such  is  the 
second  clause,  and  then  follows  the  glorious  third. 
"  This  state  of  death  endured  for  Me  but  for  an  in- 
stant. I  laid  down  my  life  that  I  might  take  it 
again.  I  drank  of  the  brook  in  the  way,  and  there- 
fore have  I  lifted  up  my  head  (Ps.  ex.  7) ;  death 
having  now  in  Me  been  so  swallowed  up  in  life, 
that  behold,  I  am  living  for  evermore." 

"  And  have  the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death.''-  — 
We  should  read  rather  "  of  death  and  of  hell"  for 
so  all  the  best  MSS.  and  Versions  have  it,  while 
the  reading  of  our  Translation  inverts  the  natural 
and  logical  order ;  for  it  is  death  which  peoples 
hell  or  Hades  ;  it  is  a  king  Death  who  makes  pos- 
sible a  kingdom  of  the  dead  (vi.  8  ;  xx.  13,  14) ; 
for  by  "  hell"  or  Hades,  this  invisible  kingdom  or 
dominion  of  the  dead  is  intended,  and  that  in  all  its 
extent,  not  merely  in  one  dark  province  of  it,  the 
region  assigned  to  the  lost.  Hengstenberg  indeed 
affirms  in  his  own  confident  way  that  "  death " 
here  means  the  second  death,  and  as  a  consequence 
that  "  hell "  or  Hades,  can  mean  only  Gehenna ; 
observing  that  in  the  £s"ew  Testament  this  second 
death  is  alone  set  forth  as  an  object  of  fear.  But 
why  is  it  that  the  other  death,  itself  the  outward 
sign  and  seal  of  God's  extreme  indignation  against 


72  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.       [I.  18. 

sin,  has  ceased  to  be  an  object  of  terror,  has  been 
robbed  for  the  faithful  of  its  sting  ?  Why,  except 
for  that  fact  which  we  find  proclaimed  in  these 
words,  namely,  that  the  Son  of  God  has  gone  down 
into  the  dark  realms  of  shadows  and  returned  from 
it  again — and  not  this  only,  but  returned  from  it  a 
conqueror,  having  overcome  death,  and  burst,  like 
another  Samson  (Judg.  xvi.  3),  the  gates  of  the 
city  of  the  grave  which  shut  Him  in ;  and  in 
pledge  of  this  having  the  keys  of  both,  the  abso- 
lute Lord  who  opens  and  shuts  them  at  his  will 
for  all  the  children  of  men.  For  myself  I  cannot 
doubt,  above  all  when  I  look  at  the  words  which 
immediately  go  before,  that  Christ  sets  Himself 
forth  here  as  the  overcomer  of  death  natural ;  which 
it  must  always  be  remembered  is  rather  death  un- 
natural /  for  man  was  made  for  immortality  (Gen. 
ii.  17),  and  death  is  the  denial  and  reversal  of  the 
true  law  of  his  being  (Rom.  v.  12).  He  who  is  the 
Prince  of  life  is  indeed  but  saying  here  what  al- 
ready He  had  been  bold  to  say,  while  the  victory 
was  yet  unwon  :  u  I  am  the  Resurrection  and  the 
Life  ;  "  life,  that  is,  in  conflict  with  death,  and  over- 
coming it.  The  keys  are  the  emblems  of  authority 
(cf.  iii.  7) ;  to  have  the  keys  is  to  have  the  power 
of  Himself  going  in  and  out  as  He  pleases,  of  ad- 
mitting and  excluding,  shutting  up  and  delivering 
others :    cf.  Dent,  xxxii.  39,  "  I  kill  and  I  make 


I.  IS.]  INTRODUCTION,  EEV.  I.  4-20.  73 

alive ;  "  and  1  Sam.  ii.  6.  The  metaphor  rests  on 
the  conception  of  Hades  as  a  city  with  walls  and 
gates  ;  Christ  had  spoken  in  his  earthly  life  of  the 
irvkai  "AcSov  (Matt.  xvi.  18  ;  cf.  Isai.  xxxviii.  10  ; 
Job  xxxviii.  17). 

Let  me  express  here,  before  leaving  this  subject, 
the  regret  which  all  who  have  thoughtfully  com- 
pared our  Version  with  the  original  must  feel  that 
the  one  word  "  hell "  covers  there  two  words  of 
such  difference  in  meaning  as  uStj^  and  yievva,  the 
first  "  Sheol,"  the  gathering-place  of  all  departed 
souls,  the  second  the  Xl/jlvtj  tov  Trvpos  of  this  Book 
(xix.  20  ;  xx.  10),  the  final  abode  of  the  lost.  All 
must  lament  the  manifold  confusions  which  out  of 
this  have  arisen ;  the  practical  loss  indeed  among 
our  people  of  any  doctrine  about  Hades  at  all.  I 
have  entered  into  this  more  at  full  elsewhere,1  and 
have  quite  acknowledged  the  difficulty  of  taking 
any  other  course,  so  that  it  is  much  easier  to  note 
the  fault  than  to  suggest  the  remedy.  The  rela- 
tions of  a8r)$  to  yievva,  and  also  to  7rapdSeiao<;y  are 
well  put  in  this  extract  from  a  funeral  sermon  of 
Jeremy  Taylor  :  "  The  word  Ai8t]<;  signifies  indefi- 
nitely the  state  of  separation,  whether  blessed  or 
accursed ;  it  means  only  '  the  invisible  place,'  or 
the  region  of  darkness,  whither  whoso  descends 

*  On  the  Authorized  Version  of  the  New  Testament,  2d  edit 
p.  20. 


74  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN   CI1UECIIES  IN  ASIA.       [I.  20. 

shall  be  no  more  seen.  For  as  among  the  heathens 
the  Elysian  fields  and  Tartara  are  both  iv  "AiSov,1 
so  among  the  Jews  and  Christians  paradisus  and 
gehenna  are  the  distinct  states  of  Hades." 2 

Yer.  19.  "  Write  the  things  which  thou  hast  seen, 
and  the  things  which  are,  and  the  things  which 
shall  be  hereafter" — It  is  certainly  a  piece  of  care- 
lessness on  the  part  of  our  Translators  to  have 
omitted,  which  none  of  the  previous  translators 
had  done,  the  ovv  ("  Write  therefore "),  about  the 
right  of  which  to  a  place  in  the  text  no  question 
has  been  ever  made.  "With  what  intention  the  illa- 
tive particle  is  uied,  is  not  so  easy  to  determine ; 
perhaps  it  is  best  referred  to  what  goes  immedi- 
ately before :  "  Seeing  that  I  am  this  mighty  One, 
the  first  and  last,  who  was  dead  and  am  alive,  do 
thou  therefore  write ;  for  the  things  declared  by 
Me  are  all  steadfast  and  sure." 

Yer.  20.  "  The  mystery  of  the  seven  stars  which 
thou  sawest  in  my  right  hand,  and  of  the  seven 
golden  candlesticks.  The  seven  stars  are  the  Angels 
of  the  seven  Churches,  and  the  seven  candlesticks 

1  As  witness  the  lines  of  the  comic  poet : 

teal  yap  naO'  "Aidyv  5uo  rpifiovs  vo/xi&ixw, 
fitav  5iKal(i>yt  narepav  affefiuv  656v.' 
a  A  little  work  by  Konig,  Die  Lchre  von  Christi  Hbllcnfahrt, 
1842,  gives  admirably  the  whole  teaching  of  Scripture,  and  \n  an  his- 
toric sketch  that  of  the  Church,  concerning  Hades. 


L  20.]  INTPwODUCTION,  EEV.  I.  4-20.  75 

which  thou  saicest  are  the  seven  Churches." — We 
may  either  regard  the  first  sentence  as  governed  by 
the  "  Write  "  of  the  verse  preceding ;  so  no  doubt 
our  Translators,  who  place  only  a  comma  at  the 
conclusion  of  that  verse ;  or  else,  placing  a  full- 
stop  there,  regard  these  words  as  a  sort  of  nomi- 
native absolute,  the  statement  of  the  "  mystery"  or 
spiritual  riddle,  of  which  the  solution  follows  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  verse.  This  distribution  seems  to 
me  certainly  preferable  to  the  other.  A  "  mys- 
tery "  in  the  constant  language  of  Scripture  is 
something  which  man  is  capable  of  knowing,  but 
only  when  it  has  been  revealed  to  him  by  God 
(Matt.  xiii.  11 ;  Rom.  xi.  25  ;  Ephes.  vi.  19  ;  1  Cor. 
xiii.  2),  and  not  through  any  searching  of  his  own. 
Thus,  as  has  been  well  observed,  fjuva^pLov  and 
tnroicakv^is  are  correlative  terms  (Rom.  xvi.  25) ; 
and  as  in  the  former  clauses  of  the  present  verse 
there  is  the  fjLva-rrjpiov,  so  in  the  latter  the  airoica- 
\vy]n<;  pvo-Twpiov.  From  this,  the  revelation  of  the 
mystery,  we  learn  that  "  the  seven  stars  are  the 
Angels  of  the  seven  ChurcJhcs"  In  all  the  typical 
language  of  Scripture  stars  are  symbols  of  lordship 
and  authority,  ecclesiastical  or  civil.  Thus  a  star  is 
the  symbol  of  the  highest  dominion  of  all ;  "  There 
shall  come  a  star  out  of  Jacob  "  (Num.  xxiv.  7) ; 
and  the  actual  birth  of  Him  whom  Balaam  prophe- 
sied of  here,  is  announced  by  a  star  (Matt.  ii.  2). 


[I.  20. 

Faithful  teachers  are  stars  that  shall  shine  for  ever 
(Dan.  xii.  3) ;  false  teachers  are  wandering  stars 
(Jude  13),  or  stars  which  fall  from  heaven  (Rev. 
viii.  10  ;  vi.  13  ;  xii.  4).  But  "  the  Angels  of  the 
seven  Churches  "  have  given  occasion  to  much  dis- 
cussion and  dispute ;  and  only  when  we  Imow  ex- 
actly what  they  mean,  shall  we  feel  perfectly  sure 
that  we  have  interpreted  the  "  stars "  aright ;  or 
rather  that  we  have  apprehended  aright  the  inter- 
pretation of  them  given  here  by  the  Spirit. 

Some,  then,  have  understood  by  the  "Angels" 
the  heavenly  messengers  who  bear  this  name. 
They  urge  that  often  elsewhere  in  this  Book  as  the 
word  "  Angel "  recurs,  it  is  never  in  any  other 
sense ;  therefore  that  in  these  we  are  to  recognize 
the  guardian  Angels  over  the  several  Churches, 
"  their  Angels ;  "  that  if  single  persons  had  thus 
their  Angels  (Matt,  xviii.  10  ;  cf.  Acts  xii.  15), 
much  more  the  same  might  be  predicated  of 
Churches  (Dan.  xii.  1).  Thus  Origen  {Horn.  xiii.  in 
Lac.)  :  "  Si  audacter  expedit  loqui  Scripturarum 
sensum  sequenti,  per  sjngulas  Ecclesias  bini  sunt 
Episcopi,  alius  visibilis,  alius  invisibilis ;  ille  yisui 
carnis,  hie  sensui  patens.  Et  quomodo  homo,  si 
commissam  sibi  dispensationem  bene  egerit,  lau- 
dator a  Domino,  si  male  culpae  et  vitio  subjacet, 
sic  et  Angelus."  And  again  {Horn.  xx.  in  Num.) : 
"  Secundum  ea  qua?  Johannes  in  Apocalypsi  scribit, 


L  20.]  INTEODUCTION,  EEV.  I.  4-20.  77 

unicuique  Ecclesise  generaliter  Angelus  priest,  qui 
vel  collaudatur  pro  bene  gestis  populi,  vel  etiam 
pro  delictis  ejus  culpatur.  In  quo  etiam  stupendi 
mysterii  adniiratione  permoveor,  quod  intantum 
Deo  cura  de  nobis  est,  ut  etiam  Angelos  suos  cul- 
pari  pro  nobis  et  confutari  patiatur.  Sic  enim  cum 
psedagogo  traditur  puer,  si  forte  minus  dignis,  nee 
secundum  paternam  nobilitatem  imbutus  appareat 
disciplinis,  continuo  culpa  ad  psedagogum  refertur, 
nee  ita  puer  a  patre  ut  pasdagogus  arguitur."  Cf. 
Jerome  (In  Mich.  vi.  1,  2),  who  lias  evidently  copied 
this  passage. 

The  preoccupation  of  an  obvious  objection  is  in 
the  words  just  quoted  ingeniously  attempted,  but 
not  successfully  accomplished.  Indeed  the  objec- 
tion is  one  which  it  is  impossible  to  surmount: 
this,  namely,  How  could  holy  Angels  be  charged 
with  such  delinquencies  as  are  laid  to  the  charge 
of  some  of  the  Angels  here  (ii.  4  ;  iii.  1,  15)  %  See 
some  good  observations  on  this  point  in  Augustine 
(Ejp.  43,  §  22) :  "  Angelo  Ecclesiae  Ephesi  scribe  ; 
Quod  si  de  Angelo  superiorum  ccelorum,  et  non 
de  praepositis  Ecclesise  vellet  intelligi,  non  conse- 
quenter  diceret :  Sed  habeo  adversum  te,  quod 
caritatem  primam  reliquisti.  Hoc  de  superioribus 
Angelis  dici  non  potest,  qui  perpetuam  retinent 
caritatem,  unde  qui  defecerunt  et  lapsi  sunt,  dia- 
bolus  est  et  angeli  ejus." 


78  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCHES  IN  ASIA.      [1.  20. 

This  then  of  the  "  Angels  "  meaning  heavenly 
Angels  may  certainly  be  dismissed.  Even  all  which 
Alford  has  urged  in  its  favour  will  be  unable,  I  am 
persuaded,  to  procure  any  wide  acceptance  for  it. 
The  Angel  must  be  some  person  or  persons  in  the 
Church  on  earth,  not  one  overlooking  it  from 
heaven.  I  say  some  person  or  persons,  not  as 
myself  thinking  it  possible  that  he  can  represent  a 
plurality,  but  having  in  view  explanations  which 
by  some  have  been  offered,  and  on  which  something 
will  have  to  be  said. 

But  if  some  human  person  in  the  Church,  who 
but  the  chief  shepherd,  in  other  words,  the  bishop  ? 
To  whom  else  would  all  which  we  here  in  these 
Epistles  find  ascribed  to  the  Augel  apply  ?  For 
myself,  I  cannot  but  think  that  the  argument  for 
the  existence  of  the  episcopate  in  the  later  apostolic 
times,  and  that  as  a  divinely  recognized  institution, 
which  may  be  drawn  from  the  position  of  the 
Angels  in  the  several  Churches,  and  from  the  lan- 
guage in  which  they  are  addressed,  is  exceedingly 
strong.  The  Angel  in  each  Church  is  one ;  but 
surely  none  can  suppose  for  an  instant  that  there 
was  only  one  presbyter,  or  other  minister  serving 
in  holy  things,  for  the  whole  flourishing  Church  of 
Ephesus,  or  of  Smyrna ;  and  that  we  are  in  this 
way  to  account  for  the  single  Angel  of  the  several 
Churches.     Thirty  years  before  this  time  St.  Paul 


I.  20.]  INTRODUCTION,  EEV.  I.  4-20.  79 

had  littered  his  parting  words  at  Miletus  to  the 
elders  of  the  Ephesian  Church  (Acts  xx.  17),  and 
certainly  addressed  them  even  then  as  many  (ver. 
25).  Taking  into  account  what  we  know  of  the 
spread  of  the  Christian  faith  in  these  parts  daring 
the  intermediate  time,  it  is  probable  that  their 
number  was  at  this  time  largely  increased.  And 
yet  now,  with  this  large  number  of  presbyters,  there 
is  only  one  Angel  in  each  of  these  Churches.  "What 
can  he  be  but  a  bishop  ? — a  bishop  too  with  the 
prerogatives  which  we  ascribe  to  one.  His  pre- 
eminence cannot  be  explained  away,  as  though  he 
had  been  merely  a  ruling  elder,  a  primus  inter 
pares,  with  only  such  authority  and  jurisdiction  as 
the  others,  his  peers,  may  have  lent  him.  For  the 
great  Bishop  of  souls  who  is  here  on  his  spiritual 
visitation,  every  where  holds  the  Angel  responsible 
for  the  spiritual  condition  of  his  Church ;  for  the 
false  teaching  which  he  has  not  put  down,  for  the 
false  teachers  whom  he  has  not  separated  from  the 
communion  of  the  faithful, — in  short,  for  every  dis- 
order in  doctrine  or  discipline  which  has  remained 
unrepressed.  But  Christ  could  not  so  deal  with 
them,  could  not  charge  them  personally  with  these 
negligences  and  omissions,  unless  upon  the  ground 
that  they  had  been  clothed  with  power  and  author- 
ity sufficient  to  have  prevented  them,  so  that  these 


80  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.       [L  20. 

evils  could  only  have  existed  through  their  neglect 
and  allowance. 

By  what  has  been  just  said  it  is  not  intended  in 
the  least  to  affirm  that  bishops  were  commonly 
called  Angels  in  the  primitive  Church,  or  called  so 
at  all,  except  with  a  more  or  less  conscious  reference 
to  the  use  of  the  word  in  the  Apocalypse.  There  is 
a  certain  mysteriousness,  and  remoteness  from  the 
common  language  of  men,  in  the  adoption  of  this 
term,  and  such  there  is  intended  to  be.  It  belongs 
to  the  enigmatic  symbolic  character  of  the  Book, 
elevated  in  its  language  throughout  above  the  level 
of  daily  life.  Those  to  whom  this  title  is  ascribed 
are  herein  presented  to  the  Church  as  clothed  with 
a  peculiar  dignity,  and  are  herein  themselves  re- 
minded that  they  stand  before  One,  whose  ministries 
of  grace  and  love  they  should  be  swift  to  fulfil  on 
earth,  even  as  those  whose  names  they  bear  are 
swift  to  fulfil  them  in  heaven.  There  is  then  a  cer- 
tain, though  very  partial  right  in  what  Origen 
taught ;  and  "  Angel  "  is  a  heavenly  title  here  ; 
but  a  heavenly  title  which  has  been  borrowed  by 
earth,  which  has  been  transferred  and  applied  to 
men  ;  a  transfer  not  without  its  analogies  in  the  Old 
Testament  (Eccles.  v.  5  ;  Mai.  ii.  7 ;  iii.  1) ;  and 
rendered  more  easy  by  the  fact  that  Angel  is  a 
name  not  designating    the    personality,   but    the 


I.  20.]  INTKODUCTION,  KEV.  I.  4-20.  81 

office,  of  those  heavenly  beings  by  whom  it  properly 
is  borne. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  those  who  believe 
the  government  of  the  Church  to  have  been  pres- 
byterian  at  the  first,  and  who  see  in  the  episcopate 
a  result  of  declension  from  apostolic  purity,  should 
accept  these  conclusions.  At  the  same  time  they 
are  far  from  being  at  one  in  the  ways  by  which 
they  have  sought  to  evade  the  argument  for  primi- 
tive episcopacy  which  we  believe  that  we  are  here 
justified  in  finding. 

Thus  some  affirm  that  the  Angel  represents  and 
stands  for  not  any  single  person,  but  the  whole 
body  of  the  Trpoeo-r&Tes,  the  collective  presbytery, 
contemplated  and  addressed  not  as  many,  but  as 
one.  So  for  the  most  part  the  early  anti-episcopal 
Protestants,  Brightman  for  example ;  and  even 
Hengstenberg  has  not  disdained  to  fall  back  on  this 
unworthy  subterfuge  ;  the  mere  statement  of  which 
involves  its  condemnation.  Vitringa  (Do  Synag. 
Vet.  p.  911)  with  more  candour  mentions  this  only 
to  reject  it,  and  finds  a  clear  testimony  here  for  the 
superior  dignity  of  one  in  these  several  Churches  ; 
though  naturally  the  episcopate  which  he  thus  recog- 
nizes, is  of  the  mildest  form,  of  the  Usherian  type  ; 
and  Beza  in  like  manner  glosses  rS  ayyeXay,  i.  e. 
irpoecTTcoTi ;  though,  curiously  enough,  he  considers 
that  the  upgrowth  of  the  tyrannous  hierarchy  of 


82  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCHES  IN  ASIA.       [I.  20. 

Kome  is  evidence  sufficient  that,  however  there  were 
7rpoeaTcoTe<;  in  these  apostolic  Churches,  it  was  never 
intended  of  God  that  such  should  always  continue 
in  the  Church. 

But  there  is  a  poorer  evasion  even  than  this ; 
which  has  lately  been  revived  by  Ebrard.  It  rests 
on  an  entirely  gratuitous  assumption,  on  the  fiction, 
namely,  that  the  seven  Churches  had  sent  their 
messengers  to  St.  John  at  Patmos,  therefore  called 
the  "  Angels"  or  messengers  (cf.  Luke  ix.  52)  "  of 
the  Churches"  These  in  these  Epistles  are  now 
successively  addrest,  that  they  may  bring  back  his 
word,  or  rather  the  word  of  Christ,  to  those 
Churches  from  which  they  had  been  deputed.  But 
in  answering  a  letter  by  a  messenger,  you  write  by, 
you  do  not  usually  write  to,  him  ;  nor  is  it  easy  to 
see  where  is  the  correspondency  between  such  mes- 
sengers, subordinate  officials  of  the  Churches,  and 
stars  ;  or  what  the  mystery  of  the  relation  between 
them  then  would  be ;  or  how  the  Lord  should  set 
forth  as  an  eminent  prerogative  of  his,  that  lie  held 
the  seven  stars,  that  is,  the  seven  messengers,  in  his 
right  hand  (ii.  1).  The  scheme  breaks  down  at 
every  point,  and  among  many  lame  and  feeble  shifts 
must  needs  be  regarded  as  the  lamest  and  feeblest 
of  all.  I  again  repeat  my  conviction  that  in  these 
Angels  we  are  to  recognize  the  bishops  of  the  sev- 
eral  Churches.     So  manv  difficulties,  embarrass- 


I.  20.]  1NTEODUCTION,  EEV.  I.  4-20.  83 

ments,  improbabilities  attend  every  other  solution, 
all  which  disappear  with  the  adoption  of  this,  while 
no  others  rise  in  their  room,  that,  were  not  other 
interests,  often  no  doubt  unconsciously,  at  work,  it 
would  be  very  hard  to  understand  how  any  could 
have  ever  arrived  at  a  different  conclusion. 

I  will  take  the  opportunity  of  a  pause  here  be- 
tween this,  the  Introduction  to  the  seven  Epistles, 
and  the  seven  Epistles  themselves,  to  say  a  few 
needful  words  on  the  mystery  of  the  number  seven  ; 
which  only  I  have  left  unsaid  so  long,  because  un- 
willing to  interrupt  the  exposition  by  any  thing  in 
the  shape  of  a  dissertation  ;  not  to  say  that  I  found 
it  difficult  to  attach  to  any  one  of  those  important 
sevens  which  have  already  occurred,  considerations 
which  properly  belonged  to  them  all. 

Even  the  most  careless  reader  of  the  Apocalypse 
must  be  struck  with  the  manner  in  which  almost 
every  thing  there  is  ordered  by  sevens.  Thus,  be- 
sides the  seven  Churches,  and  their  seven  Angels, 
we  have  already  in  this  first  chapter  the  seven 
Spirits  (ver.  4),  the  seven  candlesticks  (ver.  12),  the 
seven  stars  (ver.  16) ;  and  then  further  the  seven 
lamps  of  fire  (iv.  5),  the  seven  seals  (v.  1),  the  seven 
horns  and  seven  eyes  of  the  Lamb  (v.  6),  the  seven 
heavenly  Angels  and  the  seven  trumpets  (viii.  2), 
the  seven  thunders  (x.  3),  the  seven  heads  of  the 


84  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.       [I.  20. 

dragon,  and  the  seven  crowns  upon  these  heads 
(xii.  3),  the  same  of  the  beast  rising  out  of  the  sea 
(xiii.  1),  the  seven  last  plagues  (xv.  1),  the  seven 
vials  (xv.  T),  the  seven  mountains  (xvii.  9),  the  seven 
kings  (xvii.  10) ;  not  to  speak  of  other  recurrences, 
not  so  obvious,  of  this  number  seven  as  the  signa- 
ture of  the  Book  ;  as,  for  instance,  the  distribution 
of  it  into  seven  visions,  the  sevenfold  ascription  of 
glory  to  the  Lamb  (v.  12),  and  to  God  (vii.  12). 

But  indeed  the  recurrence,  and,  as  I  shall  seek 
to  show,  the  symbolic  dignity  of  the  number  seven 
runs  through  the  whole  of  Scripture  from  first  to 
last, — to  say  nothing  of  the  echoes  of  this  sense  of 
its  significance  which  abound  in  every  religion  of 
heathendom  ;*  and  if  it  is  more  strongly  marked  in 
the  Apocalypse  than  in  any  other  book  of  Scripture, 
it  is  only  that  this,  like  so  much  else,  has  culmi- 
nated here.  Should  it  be  asked,  What  is  the  special 
significance,  and  what  the  sacredness  and  peculiar 
dignity  of  seven,  of  what  is  it  the  signature,  the  an- 
swer is  not  very  hard  to  give.  A  careful  induction 
from  all  the  passages  where  this  number  cannot  be 
regarded  as  fortuitous,  but  is  evidently  of  Divine 
ordinance  and  appointment  (I  call  fortuitous  such 
sevens  as  occur,  Acts  xix.  14  ;  xx.  6),  will  leave  no 

1  "  Die  allgemcino  Ileiligkeit  der  Siebenzahl  haben  die  Altcn 
Bcbon  in  alien  Bcziehungen  bemerkt."  Creuzer,  Symbolik,  vol.  ii. 
p.  161,  where  see  a  large  collection  of  the  literature  on  the  subject. 


I.  20.]  INTRODUCTION,  EEV.  I.  4-20.  85 

doubt  that  it  claims  throughout  Scripture  to  be 
considered  as  the  covenant  number,  the  sign  and 
signature  of  God's  covenant  relation  to  mankind, 
and  above  all  to  that  portion  of  mankind  with 
which  this  relation  is  not  potential  merely,  but 
actual,  namely  the  Church. 

The  evidences  of  this  reach  back  to  the  very  be- 
ginning. We  meet  them  first  in  the  hallowing  of 
the  seventh  day,  in  pledge  and  token  of  the  cove- 
nant of  God  wTith  man  (Gen.  ii.  3  ;  cf.  Ezek.  xx. 
12),  as  indeed  in  the  binding  up  of  seven  in  the 
very  word  Sabbath.1  So  too  circumcision,  being 
the  sign  of  a  covenant,  is  accomplished  on  the 
eighth,  or  after  seven  days  (Gen.  xvii.  12 ;  Lev.  xii. 
3).  And  as  seven  is  the  signature  of  God's  cove- 
nant with  man,  so  of  all  man's  covenants  with  his 
fellows,  resting  as  these  do  and  must,  on  the  ante- 
rior covenant  with  God ;  thus  of  treaties  of  peace 
(Gen.  xxi.  20),  of  marriages  (Judg.  xiv.  12).  Kor 
should  it  be  left  unnoticed  that  the  word  seven  is 
again  bound  up  in  the  Hebrew  word  signifying  an 
oath,  or  a  covenant  confirmed  with  an  oath.    Seven 

1  It  was  therefore  a  true  instinct  of  hatred  against  a  divine  insti- 
tution which  led  those  who  in  the  first  French  Revolution  proclaimed 
the  abolition  of  the  Christian  religion,  to  make  war  also  on  the  Chris- 
tian week,  the  distribution  of  time  by  sevens,  and  to  substitute  that 
by  decades  in  its  stead.  They  felt  that  here  was  a  witness  for  God  in 
the  world,  a  witness  that  He  was  the  measurer  out  of  our  times  to  us, 
which  must  not  be  allowed  to  survive. 


86  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.       [L  20. 

is  the  number  of  sacrifice,  by  aid  of  which  the  cove- 
nant once  established,  is  continually  maintained  in 
its  first  vigour  and  strength,  and  the  relations  be- 
tween God  and  man,  which  sin  is  evermore  disturb- 
ing, and  threatening  to  bring  to  an  end,  are  restored 
(2  Chron.  xxix.  21 ;  Job  xlii.  8  ;  cf.  Num.  xxiii.  1, 
14,  29).  It  is  the  number  of  purification  and  conse- 
cration, as  the  fruits  of  the  sacrifice  (Lev.  iv.  6,  17 ; 
viii.  11,  33  ;  xiv.  9,  51 ;  xvi.  14,  19  ;  Num.  xix,  12, 
19),  of  forgiveness  (Matt,  xviii.  21,  22  ;  Luke  xvii. 
4).  Then,  again,  seven  is  the  number  of  every  grace 
and  benefit  bestowed  upon  Israel ;  which  is  thus 
marked  as  flowing  out  of  the  covenant  and  a  conse- 
quence of  it.  The  priests  compass  Jericho  seven 
days,  and  on  the  seventh  day  seven  times,  that  all 
Israel  may  know  that  the  city  is  given  into  their 
hands  by  their  God  ;  and  that  its  conquest  is  a  di- 
rect and  immediate  result  of  their  covenant  relation 
to  Him  (Josh.  vi.  4,  15,  16).  Naaman  is  to  dip  in 
Jordan  seven  times,  that  he  may  acknowledge  the 
God  of  Israel  the  author  of  his  cure  (2  Kings  v.  10). 
It  is  the  number  of  reward  to  those  that  are  faith- 
ful in  the  covenant  (Deut.  xxviii.  7  ;  1  Sam.  ii.  5) ; 
of  punishment  to  those  who  are  froward  in  the  cove- 
nant (Lev.  xxvi.  21,  24,  28  ;  Deut.  xxviii.  25  ;  2 
Sam.  xii.  8  ;  xxiv.  13),  or  to  those  who  injure  the 
people  in  it  (Gen.  iv.  15,  24  ;  Ps.  lxxix.  12 ;  Exod. 
vii.  25) ;  or  again  of  punishment,  regarded  in  the 


L  20.]  INTRODUCTION,  REV.  I.  4-20.  87 

light  of  a  making  of  amends,  a  readjusting  of  the 
disturbed  balances  of  justice,  and  so  a  restoring  of 
harmony  between  the  sinner  and  the  outraged  law 
of  God  (Prov.  vi.  31).  All  the  feasts,  as  must  be 
obvious  to  every  one,  are  ordered  by  seven,  or  else 
by  seven  multiplied  into  seven  (7  x  7),  and  thus 
made  intenser  still.  Thus  it  is,  not  to  recur  again 
to  Sabbath,  the  mother  of  all  feasts,  with  the  Pass- 
over (Exod.  xii.  15,  16),  the  feast  of  weeks  (Deut. 
xvi.  9),  of  tabernacles  (Deut.  xvi.  13,  15),  the  sab- 
bath-year (Lev.  xxv.  2,  3  ;  Deut.  xv.  1),  and  the 
jubilee  (Lev.  xxv.  8).1 

Further  we  may  observe  that  wherever  God  is 
at  work  in  the  history  of  other  nations  outside  of 
the  covenant,  while  yet  He  would  make  it  plainly 
to  appear  that  it  is  for  Israel's  sake,  and  having  re- 
spect to  the  covenant,  that  Lie  is  so  working,  this 
signature  of  seven  in  his  dealing  with  those  nations 
is  never  wanting.  Thus  it  is  the  number  of  the 
years  of  plenty  and  of  the  years  of  famine,  in  sign 
that  these  were  sent  not  so  much  for  Egypt's  sake, 
as  for  Israel's,  and  as  conducing  to  the  divine  prep- 
aration through  which  the  chosen  people  were  to 
pass  (Gen.  xli.  26,  27).  Seven  times  pass  over  Ne- 
buchadnezzar, that  he  may  learn  in  his  abasement 
how  that  the  God  of  his  Jewish  captives  is  indeed 
the  King  over  all  the  earth  (Dan.  iv.  16,  23,  25). 

1  See  Philo,  De  Septenario,  passim. 


88  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.      [I.  20. 

But  it  would  be  endless  to  go  through  all  passa- 
ges in  proof ;  it  would  need  to  quote  or  refer  to  a 
great  part  of  Scripture.  I  prefer  leaving  to  the 
student  of  God's  Word  to  fill  up  the  sketch  which 
I  have  drawn,  and  to  find  for  himself  further  con- 
firmation of  what  has  been  asserted  here. 

But  if  it  should  be  further  asked,  Why  has 
seven  been  selected  for  this,  what  are  the  grounds 
of  its  adoption  to  this  high  dignity  and  honour,  the 
answer  does  not  seem  very  far  to  seek.  I  am  in- 
deed aware  that  in  all  speculations  upon  numbers 
we  may  very  profitably  lay  to  heart  the  wise  cau- 
tion of  Fuller,1  clothed,  as  is  ever  the  case  with  his 
wisdom,  in  witty  words  :  "  For  matter  of  numbers 
fancy  is  never  at  a  loss,  like  a  beggar  never  out  of 
his  way,  but  hath  some  haunts  where  to  repose  it- 
self. But  such  as  in  expounding  of  Scripture  reap 
more  than  God  did  sow  there,  never  eat  what  they 
reap  thence,  because  such  grainless  husks,  when 
seriously  threshed  out,  vanish  all  into  chaff."  And 
yet  I  feel  very  sure  that  in  this  matter  we  need  not 
dread  lest  we  should  be  threshing  barren  ears,  with 
only  chaff  for  our  pains. 

To  the  question  then  asked  above  it  may  be  re- 
plied by  first  calling  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
number  seven  results  from  the  combination  of  three 
and  four.     But  can  it  be  shown  that  these  in  Scrip- 

1  A  Pisgah  Sight  of  Palestine,  b.  iii.  c.  6. 


I.  20.]  INTRODUCTION,  EEV.  L  4-20.  89 

ture  have  severally  any  symbolic  significance  of 
their  own  ?  Assuredly  yes.  Three,  the  signature 
of  God ;  four,  that  of  the  world ;  and  thus  seven, 
or  these  numbers  brought  into  contact  and  rela- 
tion, the  token  and  signature  of  the  covenant  be- 
tween these  two. 

That  three  is  the  number  of  God,  of  the  ever- 
blessed  Trinity,  this  of  itself  needs  no  pjoof.  And 
it  is  so  recognized  in  Scripture.  There  are  vestiges 
of  this  in  the  Old  Testament,  in  the  Trisagion  of 
Isai.  vi.  3  ;  in  the  blessing  as  from  three  distinct 
persons,  Num.  vi.  24-26  ;  in  the  prominent  position 
assumed  there  by  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant,  here- 
after to  be  acknowledged  as  the  second  Person  of 
the  Trinity,  in  the  often  mention  not  of  God,  but 
the  Spirit  of  God,  hereafter  to  be  acknowledged  as 
the  third  (Gen.  i.  2 ;  Ps.  li.  11).  These  footprints 
of  the  Trinity  are  purposely  more  or  less  obscure, 
and  only  clear  when  they  are  read  in  the  light  of 
a  later  revelation ;  for  the  office  of  the  Church  of 
the  Old  Testament  was  to  guard  the  truth  of  the 
unity  of  the  Godhead,  not  to  declare  the  Trinity ; 
which  indeed,  so  long  as  polytheism  was  not  over- 
come, but  still  had  its  roots  even  in  the  minds  of 
the  chosen  people  itself,  could  not  yet  have  been 
safely  declared.  Here  is  explanation  amply  suffi- 
cient, of  the  reserve  with  which  the  number  three 
is  employed  in  the  Old  Testament  as  the  signature 


90  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCIIES  IN  ASIA.       [I.  20. 

of  Deity ;   the  reason  why  this  is  only  perfectly 
plain  and  clear  in  the  Kew. 

Four,  the  next  number  to  three,  and  growing 
immediately  out  of  it,  is  the  signature  of  the  world 
— of  the  world,  not  indeed  as  a  rude  undigested 
mass,  but  as  a  /eooy-to?,  as  the  revelation,  so  far  as 
nature  can  be  the  revelation,  of  God.  Four  is 
stamped  every  where  on  this  the  organized  world. 
Thus,  not  to  speak  of  the  four  elements,  the  four 
seasons,  neither  of  which  are  recognized  in  Scrip- 
ture, we  have  there  the  four  winds  (Ezek.  xxxvii. 
9 ;  Matt.  xxiv.  31 ;  Rev.  vii.  1) ;  the  four  corners 
of  the  earth  (Rev.  vii.  1 ;  xx.  8) ;  the  four  living 
creatures,  emblems  of  all  creaturely  life  (Rev.  iv. 
6),  and  each  of  these  with  four  faces  and  four  wings 
(Ezek.  i.  5,  6) ;  the  four  beasts  coming  up  from  the 
sea,  and  representing  the  four  great  world-empires 
which  in  the  providence  of  God  should  succeed  one 
another  (Dan.  vii.  3) ;  the  four  metals  composing 
the  image  which  sets  forth  the  same  phases  of  em- 
pire (Dan.  ii.  32,  33) ;  the  four  Gospels,  or  the  four- 
sided  Gospel  (evayyeXiov  rerpdycovov,  as  one  called 
it  of  old),  in  sign  of  its  designation  for  all  the 
world ;  the  sheet  tied  at  the  four  corners  (Acts  x. 
11 ;  xi.  5) ; x  the  four  horns,  the  sum  total  of  the 

1  Augustine  (Enarr.  in  Ps.  ci.  Scrm.  ill.) t  "Discus  qui  quatuor 
lineis  continebatur  orbis  terrarum  erat  in  quatuor  partibus.  Has 
quatuor  partes  sa^pe  Scriptura  coramemorat,  orientem  ct  oecidentem, 


I.  20.]  INTRODUCTION,  EEV.  I.  4-20.  91 

forces  of  the  world  as  arrayed  against  the  Church 
(Zech.  i.  18) ;  the  enumeration,  wherever  this  is 
wished  to  be  exhaustive,  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
world  by  four,  kindreds,  tongues,  peoples,  and  na- 
tions (Kev.  v.  9  ;  cf.  vii.  9 ;  x.  11 ;  xi.  9 ;  xiv.  6 ; 
xvii.  15). 

There  are  reasons  then  amply  sufficient  why 
seven,  being  thus,  as  it  is,  made  up  of  three  and 
four,  should  be  itself  the  signature  of  the  covenant. 
~No  mere  accident  or  caprice  dictated  the  selection 
of  it.  And  if  this  number  of  the  covenant,  then 
we  can  account  for  its  constant  recurrence  in  this 
Book ;  for  admitting,  as  few  would  refuse  to  do, 
that  the  idea  of  God's  covenant  with  his  Church  as 
the  key  to  all  history,  comes  to  its  head  in  the 
Apocalypse,  it  is  nothing  wonderful  that  this  Book 
should  be  more  markedly  ordered  by  seven,  and 
have  this  number  stamped  upon  it  even  more 
strongly,  than  any  other  portion  of  Scripture.1 

aquilonem  et  meridiem.  Ideo  quia  totus  orbis  per  Evangelium  voca- 
batur,  quatuor  Evangelia  conscripta  sunt." 

1  On  this  whole  subject  of  the  symbolic  worth  and  dignity  of 
numbers  in  Scripture,  see  Bahr,  Symbolik  des  Mos.  Cutties,  vol.  i. 
pp.  128-209 ;  and  a  good  article  by  Kurtz,  in  the  Tlieoll.  Stud.  u. 
Krit.  1844,  pp.  315-370. 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  CHURCH  OF  EPHESUS. 

Eev.  ii.  1-7. 


Ver.  1.  "  Unto  the  Angel  of  the  Church  of 
Ejyhesus  write" — Before  proceeding  to  consider 
this  the  first  Epistle  in  the  series,  it  may  be  well 
worth  while  to  call  the  attention  of  the  reader  to 
the  symmetry,  to  what  we  should  call  in  human 
composition,  the  remarkable  art,  to  be  traced  in 
the  construction  of  them  all ;  quite  justifying  the 
words  of  Henry  More  :  "  There  never  was  a  book 
penned  with  that  artifice  as  this  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse." They  are  all  constructed  precisely  on  the 
same  scheme.     They  every  one  of  them  contain — 

a.  A  command  in  exactly  the  same  form  to  the 
Seer  that  he  should  write  to  the  Angel  of  the 
Church. 

/?.  One  or  more  glorious  titles  which  Christ 
claims  for  Himself,  as  adding  weight  and  authority 
to  the  message  which  He  sends  ;  these  titles  being 
in  almost  everv  case  drawn  more  or  less  cvidentlv 


II.  1.]  EPHESUS,  KEY.  II.  1-7.  93 

from  the  attributes  ascribed  to  Him,  or  claimed  by 
Him,  in  the  manifestation  of  Himself  which  has 
just  gone  before  (i.  4-20). 

7.  The  actual  message  from  Christ  to  the  Angel 
of  the  Church,  declaring  his  intimate  knowledge  of 
its  condition,  good,  or  bad,  or  mixed,  with  a  sum- 
mons to  steadfastness  in  the  good,  to  repentance 
from  the  evil — all  this  brought  home  by  the  fact 
that  He  was  walking  up  and  down  hi  the  midst  of 
his  Churches,  having  in  readiness  to  punish,  and 
having  in  readiness  to  reward. 

8.  A  promise  to  the  faithful,  to  him  that  should 
overcome — the  heavenly  blessedness  being  present- 
ed under  the  richest  variety  of  the  most  attractive, 
and  often  the  most  original,  images. 

e.  Finally,  the  whole  is  summed  up  with  an 
exhortation  which  shall  give  an  universal  character 
to  these  particular  addresses,  a  summons  to  every 
one  with  a  spiritual  ear  that  he  should  give  earnest 
heed  to  the  things,  which  were  indeed  spoken  to 
all.  In  the  addresses  to  the  four  last  Churches  the 
position  of  8  and  e  is  reversed. 

On  comparing  these  Epistles  one  with  another, 
we  may  observe  that  in  two  Churches,  namely 
Smyrna  and  Philadelphia,  the  great  Shepherd  and 
Bishop  of  souls  finds  matter  only  for  praise ;  in 
two,  Sardis  and  Laodicea,  with  very  smallest  ex- 
ception in  the  former,  only  for  rebuke.     In  three 


94:  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.       [II.  1. 

of  the  Churches,  in  Ephesus,  Pergamum,  and  Thy- 
atira,  the  condition  is  a  mixed  one,  so  that  with 
some  things  to  praise,  there  are  also  some,  more  in 
one,  fewer  in  another,  to  condemn.  It  will  thus 
be  perceived  at  once  what  far-looking  provision  is 
made  in  the  selection  of  these  particular  Churches 
to  be  addressed,  as  in  the  scheme  of  the  addresses  to 
them,  for  the  most  varied  instructions  ;  for  reproof, 
for  praise,  for  reproof  and  praise  mingled  together 
and  tempered  by  one  another ;  for  promises  and 
threatenings.  The  spiritual  condition  of  the  several 
Churches  gives  room  and  opportunity,  nay,  consti- 
tutes a  necessity,  for  each  and  all  of  these. 

Ephesus,  the  chief  city  of  Ionia,  "  Asire  lumen,'' 
7rpcoT7j  t?}?  ^AgLcls,  as  the  Ephesians  themselves 
styled  it,  asserting  in  this  style  for  Ephesus  that 
primacy  which  Smyrna  and  Pergamum  disputed 
with  it,  had  now  so  far  outstripped  both  its  com- 
petitors that  it  was  at  once  the  civil  and  ecclesias- 
tic centre  of  that  Asia  with  which  we  have  to  do. 
Wealthy,  prosperous,  and  magnificent,  a  meeting- 
place  of  oriental  religions  and  Greek  culture,  and 
famous  on  many  grounds  in  heathen  antiquity,  it 
was  chiefly  famous  for  the  celebrated  temple  of 
Diana,  one  of  the  seven  wonders  of  the  world, 
about  which  we  read  so  much,  Acts  xix.  (cf.  Crcu- 
zer,  Symbolik)  vol.  ii.  p.  515).  But  Ephesus  had 
better  titles  of  honour  than  these.    It  was  a  greatly 


II.  1.]  EPHESU3,  REV.  II.  1-7.  95 

favoured   city.      St.   Paul  laboured   there   during 
three  years  (Acts  xx.  31) ;  he  ordained  Timothy  to 
be  bishop  there  (1  Tim.  i.  3  ;   cf.  Eusebius,  II  E. 
iii.  4) ;   Aquila,  Priscilla,  Apollos  (Acts  xviii.  19, 
24,  26),  Tychicus  (Ephes.  vi.  21),  all  contributed  to 
build  up  the  Church  in  that  city.     And  if  we  may 
judge  from  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians, 
and  from  his  parting  address  to  the  elders  of  that 
Church  (Acts  xx.  17-38)  nowhere  does  the  word  of 
the  Gospel  seem  to  have  found  a  kindlier  soil,  to 
have  struck  root  more  deeply,  or  to  have  borne 
fairer  fruits  of  faith  and  love.     St.  John  too  had 
made  it  the  chief  seat  of  his  ministry,  his  metrop- 
olis, during  the  closing  years  of  his  protracted  life  ; 
from  whence    he    exercised   a   wide,   though  not 
wholly  unquestioned,  jurisdiction  (see  3  Ep.  9,  10) 
over  the  whole  of  "  AsiaP     How  early  that  min- 
istry there  began  it  is  impossible  to  say,  the  date 
of  his  withdrawal  from  Jerusalem  being  itself  un- 
certain, and  uncertain   also   whether  he   at   once 
chose  Ephesus  for  the  middle  point  of  his  spiritual 
activity.     From  a  Church  to  which  so  much  was 
given,  much  would  be  required.     How  far  it  had 
profited  as  it  ought  by  these  signal  advantages, 
how  far  it  had  maintained  itself  at  those  spiritual 
heights  to  which  it  had  once  attained,  will  pres- 
ently be  seen. 

"  These  things  saith  He  that  holdeth  the  seven 


96  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CIIUECHES  IN  ASIA.       [II.  1. 

stars  in  his  right  handP — The  title  is  borrowed 
from  i.  16  :  "  He  had  in  his  right  hand  seven 
stars  /  "  cf.  i.  20,  where  "  the  mystery  of  the  seven 
stars  "  is  unfolded.  It  is  only  when  all  the  titles 
furnished  by  chap.  i.  4-20  are  exhausted,  that  the 
Lord  seeks  them  from  any  other  quarter.  At  the 
same  time  there  is  a  significant  alteration  here. 
At  i.  16  it  is  6  €x&v,  "  He  that  hath  ;  "  here  more 
emphatically  it  is  6  Kparuv,  "  He  that  holdethP 
The  variation  is  not  without  intention ;  6  Kpar&v 
(cf.  ii.  25  ;  iii.  11)  is  stronger  than  o  e%&)i>,  "  He 
that  holdeth"  than  "He  that  hath:'  He  holds 
these  stars  in  his  grasp, — words  full  of  comfort  for 
them,  if  only  they  are  true  to  Him ;  none  shall 
pluck  them  out  of  his  hand  (John  x.  28),  none  shall 
harm  them  in  the  delivery  of  their  message  (Matt. 
x.  30  ;  Acts  xviii.  9,  10) ;  or  if  the  malice  of  their 
enemies  is  so  far  permitted  that  they  are  able  to 
kill  the  body,  they  shall  only  in  this  way  prepare 
for  them  an  earlier  and  a  speedier  passage  to  glory 
(Acts  vii.  56,  60  ;  Eev.  xi.  7, 12)  ;  but  words  which 
are  full  of  fear  for  the  unfaithful,  for  the  idol  shep- 
herds (Zech.  xi.  17),  who  feed  themselves  and  not 
the  flock  (Ezek.  xxxiv.  1-10).  Them  too  He  holds 
in  his  grasp,  and  none  can  deliver  them  from  his 
hand. 

"  Who  waUteih  in  the  midst  of  the  seven  golden 
candlesticks." — "  Who  walJceth  "  is  new.     The  Seer 


II.  2.]  EPHESUS,  EEV.  IL  1-T.  97 

had  indeed  already  beheld  the  Lord  "  in  the  midst 
of  the  seven  candlesticks  "  (i.  13),  but  not  "  walk- 
ing "  in  their  midst,  the  word  expressing  the  un- 
wearied activity  of  Christ  in  his  Church  (cf.  Lev. 
xvi.  12),  moving  up  and  down  in  the  midst  of  it ; 
beholding  the  evil  and  the  good ;  evermore  trim- 
ming and  feeding  with  oil  of  grace  the  golden 
lamps  of  the  sanctuary.  Marckius  :  "  Ad  innuen- 
dam  clarius  perpetuitatem  actus  et  curam  Christi 
contra  conatus  oppositos  Satanss."  It  is  impossible 
not  to  admire  the  appropriateness  of  these  titles, 
expressing  as  they  do  the  broader  and  more  gen- 
eral relations  of  Christ  to  his  Church,  for  the  first 
Epistle  in  this  series ;  which  constitutes,  as  this 
and  a  thousand  other  tokens  declare,  not  an  acci- 
dental aggregate,  but  a  divinely-ordered  complex, 
with  all  its  parts  mutually  upholding  and  sustain- 
ing one  another. 

Yer.  2.  "  I  know  thy  ivorks." — This  is  a  formula 
which  introduces  all  the  seven  Epistles.  "  Wo?*ks  " 
therefore  are  not,  as  some  interpreters  would  un- 
derstand them,  good  works ;  for  Christ  uses  this 
language  where  there  were  no  works  which  He 
could  count  good  (iii.  15) ;  as  little  are  they  bad 
works  (iii.  8) ;  but  the  word  is  used  with  the  same 
freedom  here  as  in  other  parts  of  Scripture,  now 
for  those  (John  vii.  21 ;  1  Cor.  iii.  14) ;  and  now 
for  these  (1  Cor.  iii.  15  ;  Tit.  i.  16).     {i  I  know  thy 


9S  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCHES  IN  ASIA.       [II.  2. 

works  "  has  another  intention  than  to  express  either 
praise  or  blame.  It  declares  rather  the  omniscience 
of  Him  who  walks  up  and  down  among  the  candle- 
sticks of  gold,  whom  nothing  escapes  (Amos  iv.  13 ; 
Ps.  xi.  4,  5  ;  John  ii.  24,  25  ;  Heb.  iv.  13  ;  Eev.  ii. 
23  ;  Acts  i.  24  ;  xv.  8)  ;  being  words  of  comfort  and 
strength  for  all  them  who,  amid  infinite  weaknesses, 
are  yet  able  to  say,  "  Search  me,  O  Lord,  and  know 
my  heart ;  try  me,  and  know  my  thoughts,  and  see 
if  there  be  any  wicked  way  in  me  "  (Ps.  cxxxix. 
23,  24),  or  with  St.  Jtrim,  "  Lord,  Thon  knowest  all 
things,  Thou  knowest  that  I  love  Thee  "  (John  xxi. 
17) ;  but  words  of  fear  for  every  one  who  would 
fain  keep  back  any  thing  in  his  outer  or  inner  life 
from  the  Lord.  All  is  open  and  manifest  before 
Him  with  whom  we  have  to  do  ;  and  this  in  these 
words  He  declares. 

"And  thy  labour  and  thy  patience" — There 
was  an  earlier  Angel  of  this  same  Church  of  Ephe- 
sus,  on  whom  St.  Paul  had  urged  that  he  should 
not  fail  in  this  labour  and  patience  (2  Tim.  ii.  25, 
2G) ;  and  Christ's  commendation  here  shows  that 
the  holy  lesson  had  been  laid  to  heart  by  him  who 
had  now  stcpt  into  his  place.  The  kottqs,  occa- 
sioned probably  by  the  earnest  resistance  which  it 
was  necessary  to  oppose  to  the  false  teachers  in  the 
Ephesian  Church,  would  naturally  fall  chiefly  on 
the  bishop  and  presbyters — above  all,  on  the  first. 


II.  2.]  EPHESUS,  EEV.  II.  1-7.  99 

— Koiro?  and  kottlclco  are  frequently  used  in  refer- 
ence both  to  apostolic  and  ministerial  labours 
(Kom.  xvi.  12  ;  1  Cor.  xv.  10 ;  Gal.  iv.  11) ;  kottos 
often  in  connexion  with  ii6x@o<;  (1  Thess.  ii.  9  ;  2 
Thess.  iii.  8  ;  2  Cor.  xi.  27) ;  the  latter  perhaps 
marking  the  toil  on  the  side  of  the  magnitude  of 
the  obstacles  which  it  has  to  surmount,  as  the  deri- 
vation /j,6yi,<;,  and  the  possible  connexion  with  \ik- 
7a?,  seems  to  suggest  (Ellicott) ;  the  former  allu- 
ding to  the  toil  and  suffering  which  in  these  labours 
strenuously  and  faithfully  performed  is  involved. 
For  indeed  this  word  a:o7to?,  signifying  as  it  does 
not  merely  labour,  but  labour  unto  weariness,  may 
suggest  some  solemn  reflections  to  every  one  who 
at -all  affects  to  be  working  for  his  Lord,  and  as 
under  his  great  taskmaster's  eye.  This  is  what 
Christ  looks  for,  this  is  what  Christ  praises,  in  his 
servants.  But  how  often  does  labour,  which 
esteems  itself  labour  for  Him,  stop  very  short  of 
this,  take  care  that  it  shall  never  arrive  at  this 
point ;  and  perhaps  in  our  days  none  are  more 
tempted  continually  to  measure  out  to  themselves 
tasks  too  light  and  inadequate,  than  those  to  whom 
an  office  and  ministry  in  the  Church  has  been  com- 
mitted. Indeed,  there  is  here  to  them  an  ever- 
recurring  temptation,  and  this  from  the  fact  that 
they  do  for  the  most  part  measure  out  their  own 
day's  task  to  themselves.     Others  in  almost  every 


100        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.       [II.  2. 

other  calling  have  it  measured  out  to  them  ;  if  not 
the  zeal,  earnestness,  sincerity  which  they  are  to 
put  into  the  performance  of  it,  yet  at  any  rate  the 
outward  limits,  the  amount  of  time  which  they 
shall  devote  to  it,  and  often  the  definite  amount  of 
it  which  they  shall  accomplish,  l^ot  so  we.  We 
give  to  it  exactly  the  number  of  hours  which  we 
please  ;  we  are  for  the  most  part  responsible  to  no 
man  ;  and  when  labourers  thus  apportion  their  own 
burdens,  and  do  this  from  day  to  day,  how  near  the 
danger  that  they  should  unduly  spare  themselves, 
and  make  their  burdens  far  lighter  than  they 
should  have  been.  We  may  well  keep  this  word 
/co7ro?,  and  all  that  it  signifies,  namely  labour  unto 
weariness,  in  mind ;  and  remember  ever  that  it  is 
this  which  the  Lord  praises  and  allows. 

"  And  how  thou  canst  not  bear  them  which  are 
evil" — Christ  has  good  things  to  say  of  the  Church 
of  Ephesus,  and  He,  who  rejoices  in  the  truth, 
dwells  on  these  good  things  first.  It  is  well  worth 
while  to  observe  here  the  graciousness  of  the  Lord, 
that  He  puts  thus  in  the  foremost  place  all  which 
He  can  find  to  approve  ;  and  only  after  this  has  re- 
ceived its  mead  of  praise,  notes  the  shortcomings 
which  He  is  also  compelled  to  rebuke.  Many  graces 
had  decayed  at  Ephesus  ;  of  this  we  may  be  sure ; 
seeing  that  the  grace  of  all  graces,  namely  love,  had 
decayed  (ver.  4) ;  but  in  the  midst  of  this  decay 


II.  2.]  EPHESUS,  EEV.  II.  1-7.  101 

there  survived  an  earnest  hatred  of  certain  evil- 
doers and  evil  deeds.  The  kcikoC  here  are  not  ex 
actly  equivalent  to  the  kclkoI  ipydrac  of  Phil.  iii.  2. 
These  last  are  the  prominent  workers  of  mischief  in 
the  Church,  false  apostles,  false  prophets,  and  the 
like ;  but  the  kcikol  will  include  the  whole  rabble 
of  evil-doers  as  well.  It  is  not  a  little  remarkable 
that  the  grace  or  virtue  here  ascribed  to  the  Angel 
of  the  Ephesian  Church  and  still  more  strongly  at 
ver.  6,  should  have  a  name  in  classical  Greek, 
fii,cro7rov7)pia  (Plutarch,  Quom.  Aon.  db  Adul.  12), 
the  person  of  whom  the  grace  is  predicated  being 
fjuo-oirovwpos,  while  neither  of  these  words,  nor  yet 
any  equivalent  to  them,  occurs  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. $i\dyaSo<;  it  has  (Tit.  i.  8),  but  nowhere 
IJLLGoirovrjpoSy  nor  any  adequate  substitute  for  it.  It 
is  the  stranger,  as  this  hatred  of  evil,  purely  as  evil, 
however  little  thought  of,  or  admired  now,  is  emi- 
nently a  Christian  grace  (Kom.  xii.  9 ;  cf.  Ps. 
exxxix.  21).  The  sphere  in  which  the  Angel  of 
Ephesus  had  the  chief  opportunity  of  manifesting 
this  holy  intolerance  of  evil-doers  was,  no  doubt, 
that  of  Church-discipline,  separating  off  from  fel- 
lowship with  the  faithful  those  who  named  the 
name  of  Christ,  yet  would  not  depart  from  iniquity 
(2  Tim.  ii.  19).  The  infirmities,  even  the  sins,  of 
weak  brethren,  these  are  burdens  which  we  may, 
nay,  which  we  are  commanded  to,  bear  (cf.  Gal.  vi. 


102        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.       [II.  2. 

2,  where  the  same  word  ^aard^ecv  is  used)  ;  it  is 
otherwise  with  false  brethren  (Ps.  cxix.  115  ;  cix. 
21,  22 ;  1  Cor.  v.  11). 

"  And  thou  hast  tried  them  which  say  they  are 
apostles,  and  are  not,  and  hast  found  them  liarsP — 
We  translate  by  the  same  word  the  ireipd^eiv  here 
and  the  SoKifid^eiv  of  1  John  iv.  1.  What  this 
Angel  at  Ephesus  had  done,  and  effectually  done, 
St.  John  there  bids  those  to  whom  he  is  writing 
that  they  should  do,  namely,  prove  the  spirits  of 
those  who  came  to  them  claiming  to  teach  as  with 
authority,  and  to  bring  a  direct  message  from  God 
(cf.  1  Thess.  v.  21  ;  1  Tim.  iv.  1).  The  touchstone 
which  he  there  gives,  the  Ithuriel's  spear  which 
should  compel  each  heretic  to  start  up  and  show 
himself  in  his  proper  shape,  is  the  acknowledgment 
or  denial  that  Jesus  Christ  was  come  in  the  flesh 
(ver.  2,  3).  At  the  same  time  we  must  not  regard 
this  as  so  absolutely  the  touchstone,  but  that  other 
times  and  other  conditions  of  the  Church  might  de- 
mand other  tests.  Thus,  in  the  fourth  century  and 
during  the  Arian  conflict  the  Ilomoousion  was  that 
by  which  the  spirits  were  to  be  tried.  And  when 
our  Lord,  warning  against  false  prophets,  lays  down 
this  rule,  "  Ye  shall  know  them  by  their  fruits  " 
(Matt.  vii.  10),  He  adds  a  further  test  by  which  all 
such  may  be  detected.  By  what  methods  the 
Angel  of  this  Church  had  tried  these  pretenders  to 


II.  2.]  EPHESUS,  EEV.  II.  1-7.  103 

the  apostolate,  and  discovered  the  falsehood  of  their 
claims,  we  are  not  told ;  but  probably  by  a  union 
of  both  these  tests.  If  these  false  prophets  were,  as 
is  generally  assumed,  the  chiefs  and  leaders  of  the 
Nicolaitan  wickedness,  which  is  presently  named  by 
its  name  (ver.  6),  then  doctrinally  he  will  have  tried 
them  by  the  touchstone  of  Christ's  true  humanity, 
whether  they  would  confess  this  or  deny  it ; — we 
may  be  sure  that  they  had  that  in  common  with  all 
other  Gnostics,  which  led  them  to  the  denial  of  it ; 
— and  practically,  by  the  fruits  which  they  bore ; 
which,  being  works  of  shame  and  darkness,  avouched 
that  the  workers  of  them  were  not,  and  could  not 
be,  sent  of  Him  who  is  Light,  and  in  whom  is  no 
darkness  at  all.  And  even  were  they  not  precisely 
identical  with  the  Nicolaitans,  on  which  there  will 
be  something  to  say  at  ver.  6,  these  tests  wo  aid  not 
the  less  effectually  have  accomplished  this  work. 

"We  must  not  press  the  word  "  apostles"  as 
though  it  implied  a  claim  on  their  parts  to  have 
seen  and  been  immediately  sent  by  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  which  was  necessary  for  an  Apostle  in  the 
highest  sense  of  the  word  (Acts  i.  21,  22  ;  1  Cor.  ix. 
1),  nor  even  by  the  mother  Church  at  Jerusalem. 
It  was  now  too  late  for  either.  St.  John  alone  of 
living  men  could  claim  the  first  prerogative,  and 
Jerusalem  had  long  ago  been  destroyed.  As  little 
are  these  "  lohich  say  they  are  apostles  "  identical  in 


104:        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCHES  IN  ASIA.      pi.  8. 

the  actual  form  of  their  resistance  to  the  truth  with 
those  "  false  apostles,  deceitful  workers,"  who  every 
where  sought  to  hinder  the  labours  of  St.  Paul,  and 
every  where  denied  the  apostolic  authority  which 
he  claimed  (2  Cor.  x.  11).  Those  and  these  had  in- 
deed this  in  common,  that  they  alike  opposed  the 
truth ;  but  those  were  Judaizers,  seeking  to  bring 
back  the  ceremonial  law  and  the  obligations  of  it, 
see  Acts  xv.  1,  and  Galatians,  passim ;  these  do  not 
judaize,  but  heathenize,  seeking  to  throw  off  every 
yoke,  to  rid  themselves  not  of  the  ceremonial  law 
only,  but  also  of  the  moral ;  and  to  break  down 
every  distinction  separating  the  Church  from  a 
world  lying  in  the  wicked  one.1 

Yer.  3.  "  And  hast  borne,  and  hast  patience, 
and  for  my  name's  sake  hast  laboured,  and  hast 

This  intolerance  of  error,  this  resolution  to  hold  fast  the  precious 
deposit  of  the  truth,  to  suffer  nothing  to  be  added  to  it,  nothing  to  be 
taken  from  it,  nothing  to  be  altered  in  it,  -was  still  the  mark  and  glory 
of  the  Ephesian  Church  at  a  date  somewhat  later  than  this.  It  is  a 
remarkable  testimony  to  this  which  Ignatius,  writing  not  many  years 
after,  bears,  and  it  admirably  agrees  with  the  testimony  which  the 
Lord  Himself  bears  here  to  its  zeal  for  doctrinal  purity  (ad  Ephes. 
vi.) :  ai/rbs  /xev  ovv  'Ovfio'iju.os  virepeiraivel  v/xwy  t)\v  iv  0ey  evra^iav, 
'6ti  cV  vp.lv  ovdefxia  aipeais  koltoiku  •  ah\*  ouSe  aicovere  twos  ir\eot> 
tfirep  'Irjaov  XpHTTOv  KaXovvTOS  iu  a\7)6ela.  And  again,  C  ix.  eyvav 
8e  irapodevo~avT(is  Tivas  iice79ev,  %%0VTas  KaK^v  SiSaxfa '  ovs  ovk  eiaffare 
cnrelpai  els  vp.as,  (SvcavTes  to  Stcx,  els  to  yd]  irapade^aa^ai  t&  <Tireip6- 
fjLtva  vir*  avTwv. 


II.  3.]  EPHESUS,  EEV.  II.  1-7.  105 

not  fainted." — There  is  a  good  deal  of  filling  up 
by  transcribers  here,  and  more  than  one  phrase  to 
be  omitted.  The  following  version  will  represent 
more  truly  the  original  as  it  stands  in  the  best  crit- 
ical editions  :  "  And  hast  patience,  and  didst  bear 
for  my  name's  sake,  and  hast  not  grown  weary." 
It  is  not  hard  to  see  the  inducements  which  led 
transcriber  in  the  last  clause  of  the  verse  to  change 
zeal  ov  tce/coirta/cas  into  KetcoTriafcas  teal  ov  teeK[Ar)iea<$. 
They  took  the  verb  Koirtdco  only  in  the  sense  of  "  to 
labour  ;  "  but  how  could  it  be  said  in  praise  of  the 
Ephesian  Angel  that  he  had  not  laboured ;  above 
all  when  his  /cotto?  only  one  verse  before  was  the 
especial  object  of  the  Lord's  commendation,  as  in- 
deed it  is  throughout  the  Epistle  ?  so  they  changed 
the  word  to  what  we  have  in  the  received. text  and 
in  our  Version  ;  "  thou  hast  laboured,  and  hast  not 
fainted."  But  kotticud  is  not  only  to  labour,  but 
implying,  as  we  have  seen  it  does,  strenuous  and 
exhausting  labour,  will  often  mean  farther,  to  grow 
weary  with  labour  (thus  John  iv.  6  ;  Matt.  xi.  28  : 
KOTricovres  teal  ire^opTiajiivoi) ;  and  it  is  this  for 
which  the  Lord  here  praises  the  Angel  and  in  him 
the  Church  at  Ephesus,  that  it  had  borne  the  bur- 
den and  heat  of  a  long  day's  toil  without  fainting 
under,  or  waxing  weary  of  it.  This  recurrence  to 
the  /coVo?  of  the  verse  preceding  is  very  instructive, 
though  it  is  hard,  if  -not  impossible,  to  reproduce  it 

5*       -•■  .:'-"'  * 


106        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.       [II.  4. 

in  English.  "  Thou  knowest  what  ko7to<;  is,  with- 
out knowing  what  kottlclv  is  ;  "  and  that  this  is  not 
accidental  seems  evident  from  the  exactly  similar 
recurrence  of  fiaard^ecv  in  both  verses  ;  "  There  are 
things  which  thou  canst  not  bear,  and  things  which 
thou  canst  bear ;  thou  canst  not  bear  the  wicked, 
such  false  brethren  as  name  the  name  of  Christ 
only  to  bring  shame  upon  it ;  thou  hast  ^something 
of  the  spirit  of  him  who  declared,  '  He  that  telleth 
lies  shall  not  tarry  in  my  sight'  (Ps.  ci.  10),  but 
thou  canst  bear  my  reproach,  my  cross  ;  "  cf.  Luke 
xiv.  27,  where  the  same  word  ftaaTa&iv  is  used  as 
here ;  so  also  John  xix.  17.  "Wetstein :  "  Elegan- 
ter  opponuntur  :  ov  Svvrj  fiaaTacrcu  et  ifiacracras. 
Ferre  potes  molestias  propter  Christum  et  vexatio- 
nes  ;  at  lion  potes  ferre  pseudapostolos." 

Yer.  4.  "Nevertheless  I  have  somewhat  against 
thee,  because  thou  hast  left  thy  first  love"—ExG> 
/cara  aov  :  cf.  for  the  same  phrase  Matt.  v.  23 ; 
Mark  xi.  25  ;  and  for  a  similar,  Col.  iii.  13.  This 
is  one  of  three  occasions  (see  ver.  14,  20)  on  which 
Christ  has  to  make  a  like  exception,  and  to  dash 
his  praise  with  blame.  In  neither,  however,  of  the 
other  cases  is  the  blame  so  severe  as  here,  the 
"  somewhat"  which  appears  in  part  to  mitigate  the 
severity  of  this  judgment,  having  nothing  corre- 
sponding with  it  in  the  original.  It  is  indeed  not 
a   "somewhat"  which  the   Lord  has  against  the 


IL  4]  EPHESUS,  EEV.  II.  1-7.  107 

Epliesian  Church ;  it  threatens  to  grow  to  be  an 
"  every  thing ; "  for  see  the  verse  following,  and 
compare  1  Cor.  xiii.  1-3.  The  great  passage  on 
"first  love"  is  Jer.  ii.  2  :  "I  remember  thee,  the 
kindness  of  thy  youth,  the  love  of  thine  espousals, 
when  thou  wentest  after  me  in  the  wilderness,  in  a 
land  that  was  not  sown," — words  which  set  forth 
the  first  warmth  of  gratitude,  the  first  devotion  of 
heart  on  the  part  of  Israel  to  its  Redeemer  and 
Lord  (Exod.  xiv.  31 ;  xv.  1),  when  it  seemed  as  if 
the  flood-tides  of  a  thankful  love  would  never  ebb, 
but  would  bear  it  triumphantly  over  every  obsta- 
cle which  it  might  meet  in  its  path.  Such  a  "first 
love "  of  the  Bride  to  the  heavenly  Bridegroom, 
and  in  Him  to  all  that  are  his,  dwelt  largely  in  the 
Ephesian  Church  when  St.  Paul  wrote  his  Epistle 
to  it ;  he  gives  God  thanks  for  their  love  unto  all 
the  saints  (i.  15) ;  he  draws  them  without  a  mis- 
giving into  the  deepest  mysteries  of  human  love 
and  divine  (v.  23-33).  The  suggestion  that  this 
leaving  of  the  first  love  can  refer  to  the  abating  of 
any  other  love  but  that  to  God  and  Christ,  grows 
out  of  an  entire  ignorance  of  im  whole  spiritual 
life,  the  ways  by  which  it  travefj  and  the  dangers 
to  which  it  is  inevitably  exposed,  and  which,  alas ! 
only  too  often  prove  fatal  to  it. 

On  the  question,    W7ie?i  the  Apocalypse  was 
composed,  we  have  a  certain  amount  of  implicit 


108        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.       [II.  4 

evidence  here,  in  this  reproach,  with  which  the 
Lord  reproaches  the  Ephesian  Angel ;  such  as  has 
its  value  in  confirming  the  ecclesiastical  tradition 
which  places  it  in  the  reign  of  Domitian,  as  against 
the  more  modern  view  which  assumes  it  to  have 
been  written  in  the  time  of  Nero.  It  has  been  well 
observed  that  in  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Church 
of  Ephesus  there  are  no  signs,  nor  even  presenti- 
ments, of  this  approaching  spiritual  declension  with 
which  the  great  Searcher  of  hearts  upbraids  it  here. 
Writing  to  no  Church  does  he  treat  of  higher  spir- 
itual mysteries.  There  is  no  word  in  the  Epistle 
of  blame,  no  word  indicating  dissatisfaction  with 
the  spiritual  condition  of  his  Ephesian  converts. 
He  warns  them,  indeed,  in  his  parting  charge  given 
at  Miletus  of  dangers  threatening  them  no  less  from 
within  than  from  without  (Acts  xx.  29,  30) ;  but 
no  word  indicates  that  they  by  any  fault  of  theirs 
were  laying  themselves  open  to  these.  Those  who 
place  the  Apocalypse  in  the  reign  of  Nero  hardly 
allow  ten  years  between  that  condition  and  this — 
too  brief  a  period  for  so  great  and  mournful  a 
change.  It  is  inconceivable  that  there  should  have 
been  such  a  letting  go  of  first  love  in  so  brief  a 
time.  No :  that  which  we  have  here  described 
marks,  as  Hengstenberg  has  excellently  said,  the 
rise  of  another  generation — a  condition  analogous 
to  that  of  the  children  of  Israel,  when  Joshua  and 


II.  4.]  EPHESUS,  EEV.  II.  1-7.  109 

the  elders  who  had  seen  the  great  wonders  in 
Egypt  were  gathered  to  their  fathers  (Josh.  xxiv. 
31).  With  their  departure  another  order  of  things 
commences.  A  second  generation  rises  np  rather 
with  the  traditions  of  earnest  religion  than  the 
living  power  of  it.  The  forms,  which  were  once 
instinct  with  life,  still  survive ;  but  the  life  itself 
has,  not  indeed  altogether,  but  in  good  part,  de- 
parted from  them.  Place  the  Apocalypse  under 
Domitian,  and  thirty  years  will  have  intervened 
since  St.  Paul  wrote  his  Epistle  to  Ephesus — ex- 
actly the  period  which  we  require,  exactly  the  life 
of  a  generation  ;  the  outlines  of  the  truth  are  still 
preserved  ;  but  the  truth  itself  is  not  for  a  second 
generation  what  it  was  for  the  first ;  apparently 
*  there  is  nothing  changed  ;  while  yet  in  fact  every 
thing  is  changed.  How  often  has  something  of  this 
kind  repeated  itself  in  the  Church.1 

1  There  is  a  passage  in  Bishop  Burnet's  History  of  his  oicn  Times, 
which  has  always  seemed  to  me  to  throw  considerable  light  on  this 
picture  of  the  Ephesian  Church,  active,  zealous  of  good  works,  reso- 
lute to  maintain  a  form  of  sound  words,  the  truth  once  delivered,  and 
yet  with  its  inner  principle  of  love  so  far  decayed.  He  is  describing 
the  state  of  the  Protestant  communities  of  Switzerland,  Germany,  and 
Holland,  and  of  the  French  Protestant  refugees  who  had  found  shelter 
among  them  from  the  dragonades,  the  "  mission  bottee  "  as  it  is  so 
facetiously  called  by  some  Roman  Catholic  writers,  of  Louis  XIV. 
His  words,  written  in  the  year  1680,  are  as  follows  :  "I  was  indeed 
amazed  at  the  labours  and  learning  of  the  ministers  among  the  Be- 


110        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.       [II.  5. 

Yer.  5.  "  Remember  therefore  from  whence  thou 
art  fallen,  and  repent,  and  do  the  first  works" — 
There  are.  ever  goads  in  the  memory  of  a  better  and 
a  nobler  past,  goading  him  who  has  taken  up  with 
meaner  things  and  lower,  and  urging  him  to  make 
what  he  has  lost  once  more  his  own  ;  as,  to  take  an 
extreme  instance,  it  is  the  prodigal's  recollection  of 
the  bread  enough  and  to  spare  in  his  father's  house, 
which  makes  the  swine's  husks  and  the  famine  even 
among  them,  so  intolerable  to  him.  And  therefore 
is  it  that  this  Ephesian  Angel  is  bidden  to  remem- 
ber the  glorious  heights  of  grace,  the  heavenly 
places  whereon,  though  yet  on  earth,  he  once 
walked  with  Christ  during  the  fervency  of  his  first 

formed.  They  understood  the  Scriptures  well  in  the  original  tongues, 
they  had  all  the  points  of  controversy  very  ready,  and  did  thoroughly 
understand  the  whole  body  of  divinity.  In  many  places  they  preached 
every  day,  and  were  almost  constantly  employed  in  visiting  their 
flock.  But  they  performed  their  devotions  but  slightly,  and  read 
their  prayers,  which  were  too  long,  with  great  precipitation  and  little 
zeal.  Their  sermons  were  too  long  and  too  dry.  And  they  were  so 
strict,  even  to  jealousy,  in  the  smallest  points  in  which  they  put  ortho- 
doxy, that  one  who  could  not  go  into  all  their  notions,  but  was  re- 
solved not  to  quarrel  with  them,  could  not  converse  much  with  them 
with  any  freedom."  Speaking  of  the  French  refugees  from  the  dra- 
gonades,  he  says  :  "Even  among  them  there  did  not  appear  a  spirit 
of  piety  and  devotion  suitable  to  their  condition,  though  persons  who 
have  willingly  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things  rather  than  sin  against 
their  consciences,  must  be  believed  to  have  a  deeper  principle  in 
them,  than  can  well  be  observed  by  others." 


II.  5.]  EPHESUS,  REV.  IL  1-7.  Ill 

love.  Perhaps  the  desire  shall  thus  be  kindled  in 
him  to  scale  these  heights  again.  In  this  "from 
whence  thou  art  fallen?  an  allusion  may  possibly 
lie  to  Isai.  xiv.  12,  "  How  art  thou  fallen  from  hea- 
ven, O  Lucifer,  son  of  the  morning." — "And,  as 
thou  rememberest,  repent,  and  do  the  first  works? 
Christ  does  not  say  "  Feel  thy  first  feelings  ;"  that 
perhaps  would  have  been  impossible,  and  even  if 
possible,  might  have  had  but  little  value  in  it ;  but 
11  Do  the  first  works?  such  as  thou  didst  in  the  time 
of  thy  first  devotedness  and  zeal.  Not  the  quanti- 
ty, but  the  quality,  of  his  works  was  now  other  and 
worse  than  once  it  had  been. 

"  Or  else  I  will  come  unto  thee  quickly,  and  will 
remove  thy  candlestick  out  of  his  place,  except  thou 
repent? — The  "  quickly  "  is  wanting  in  most  MSS., 
and  has  probably  found  its  way  here  from  ver.  16  ; 
iii.  11 ;  xxii.  7,  12,  20.  The  removing  of  the  candle- 
stick from  a  place  implies  the  entire  departure  of 
Christ's  grace,  of  his  Church  with  all  its  blessings, 
from  that  spot,  with  the  transfer  of  it  to  another ; 
for  it  is  removal  of  the  candlestick,  not  extinc- 
tion of  the  candle,  which  is  threatened  here — judg- 
ment for  some,  but  that  very  judgment  the  occasion 
of  mercy  for  others.  And  so  it  has  been.  The 
Churches  of  Asia  are  now  no  more,  or  barely  and 
hardly  exist;  but  the  grace  of  God,  withdrawn 
from  them,  has  been  bestowed  elsewhere.    The  seat 


112       EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.       [II.  6. 

of  the  Church  has  been  changed,  but  the  Church 
itself  still  survives.  The  candlestick  has  been  re- 
moved, but  the  candle  has  not  been  quenched  ;  and 
what  the  East  has  lost  the  West  has  gained.  How 
awful  the  fulfilment  of  the  threat  has  been  in  regard 
of  Ephesus  every  modern  traveller  thither  has  borne 
witness.  One  who  lately  visited  the  place  found 
only  three  Christians  there,  and  these  sunk  in  such 
ignorance  and  apathy  as  scarcely  to  have  heard  the 
names  of  St.  Paul  or  St.  John. 

Yer.  6.  uBut  this  thou  hast,  that  thou  hatest  the 
deeds  of  the  JVicolaitans,  which  I  also  hate" — Very 
beautiful  is  the  tenderness  of  the  Lord  in  thus  bring- 
ing forward  a  second  time  some  good  thing  which 
He  had  found  at  Ephesus.  Having  been  compelled 
to  speak  sharp  severe  words,  He  yet  will  not  leave 
off  with  these ;  but  having  wounded,  He  will,  so 
far  as  it  is  safe  to  do  so,  also  heal.1     It  is  no  small 

1  On  this  mingling  of  praise,  so  far  as  truth  will  allow,  with  the 
necessary  blame,  and  the  leaving  off  not  with  blame,  but  with  praise, 
Plutarch  has  much  to  say  in  his  delightful  treatise,  "  How  to  discern 
a  Flatterer  from  a  Friend"  which  is  full  of  instruction  on  the  true 
spirit  of  Christian  rebuke.  On  this,  which  the  Lord  so  notably  prac- 
tises here,  namely  the  not  leaving  off  with  rebuke,  but  if  possible  with 
praise,  he  beautifully  says  (c.  37) :  'Eircl  roivvv,  ua-irep  efy^Tcu,  tto\- 
KJlkis  77  irapfaffia  tw  0epa7reuojueVco  Kvirvpa  vwcipx^h  8e?  fj.t/xe7<r6ai  robs 
larpovs.  oijre  yap  lictivoi  refivoures,  Iv  tco  itov&v  koX  a\ye?v  Kara\el- 
iroucrt  to  Treirovdbs,  aA\'  eVe/3pe|ai/  irpotrrjuus  /col  Karri6wqffav  •  o&re  ol 
vovOerovures  aoTetws,  rb  irutpbv  Kal  dr}KTinbv  irpoafia.\6vTes  cbroTpexou" 


II.  6.]  EPHESU3,  REV.  II.  1-7.  113 

praise  to  love  that  which  Christ  loves,  and  to  hate 
that  which  Christ  hates,  and  this  praise  the  Lord 
will  not  withhold  from  the  Angel  of  Ephesus. 

But  the  JSTicolaitans,  whose  deeds  were  the  object 
of  the  earnest  hate  of  Christ's  servant,  as  also  of  his 
own,  who  were  they  ?  It  is  not  an  easy  question  to 
answer.  Was  there,  in  the  first  place,  any  sect  ex- 
isting at  the  time  when  these  words  were  uttered, 
which  actually  bore  this  name  ?  I  am  disposed  to 
think  there  was  not.  The  other  names  of  this  Book, 
Egypt,  Babylon,  Sodom,  in  agreement  with  its 
apocalyptic  character,  are  predominantly  mystical 
and  symbolic ;  and  in  all  probability  this  is  so  as 
well ;  while  the  key  to  the  right  understanding  of 
it  is  given  us  at  ii.  14,  15  ;  where  those  "  that  hold 
the  doctrine  of  Balaam  "  (ver.  14)  are  evidently 
identical  with  those  "  that  hold  the  doctrine  of  the 
Nicolaitans"  (ver.  15).  "We  are  here  set  upon  the 
right  track.  It  is  probable  that  we  hardly  rate 
high  enough  the  significance  of  Balaam  as  an  Anti- 
Moses,  and  therefore  as  an  Antichrist,  in  the  Old 
Testament.  But  without  entering  more  into  this, 
it  may  be  observed  that  his  name,  according  to  the 
best  etymology,  signifies  "  Destroyer  of  the  people  " 
("  qui  absorpsit  populum,"  from  s?a  and  ts),  and 
NifcoXaos  (vucav  top  \clov)  is  no  more  than  a  greciz- 

<rivt  aAA'  6(ju\iais  erepcus  KaX  \6yois  iirieiKea-iv  iKirpavvovcri  nal  diaxe- 
ov<tiv.     Cf.  c.  xxxiii. 


114        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.       [II.  6. 

ing  of  this  name, — such  alternation,  or  duplication, 
presenting  a  word,  now  in  its  Greek,  now  in  its 
Hebrew  aspect,  being  altogether  in  the  character  of 
the  Book,  Greek  in  language,  but  Hebrew  in  form 
and  spirit,  and  several  times  recurring  in  it ;  thus, 
'AttoWvcdv  and  'AfiaS&cov  (ix.  11) ;  AidfioXos  and 
Saravas  (xii.  9  ;  xx.  2)  ;  val  and  apty  (i.  7).  The 
genesis  of  the  name,  whicji,  so  understood,  will  al- 
most exactly  correspond  to  Armillus  (=  iprjuokaos), 
the  name  by  which  the  final  Antichrist,  who  shall 
seduce  the  Christians  to  their  ruin,  is  known  among 
the  Jews  (see  Eisenmenger,  Entd.  Judenth.  ii.  705, 
sqq.),  may  be  accounted  for  in  this  way.  The  Nico- 
laitans,  as  we  have  seen,  are  the  Balaamites ;  no 
sect  bearing  the  one  name  or  the  other ;  but  those 
who  in  the  New  Dispensation  repeated  the  sin  of 
Balaam  in  the  Old,  and  sought  to  overcome  or  de- 
stroy the  people  of  God  by  the  same  temptations 
whereby  Balaam  had  sought  to  overcome  them  be- 
fore. But  it  was  into  the  fleshly  sins  of  heathenism 
that  he  had  sought  to  lead  them,  to  introduce  these 
among  the  people  of  God,  to  draw  them  to  eat  idol 
meats  and  to  commit  fornication  (Num.  xxv.  1-9 ; 
xxxi.  16) ;  and  this  the  leading  character  of  his 
wickedness  must  be  also  of  theirs. 

The  Nicolaitans  then,  or  Balaamites,  are  no  sect 
that  in  early  times  bore  one  of  these  names  or  the 
other  ;  but  those  who  after  the  pattern  of  Balaam's 


IL  6.]  EPHESUS,  EEV.  II.  1-7.  115 

sin  sought  to  introduce  a  false  freedom,  the  freedom 
of  the  flesh,  into  the  Church  of  God.  These  were 
the  foremost  tempters  of  the  Church  in  the  later 
apostolic  times  when  the  Apocalypse  was  written, 
and  in  the  times  immediately  succeeding.  The  first 
great  battle  which  the  Church  had  to  fight  was 
with  Jewish  legalism  ;  this  came  to  its  head  his- 
torically, and  found  its  condemnation,  in  the  Coun- 
cil of  Jerusalem  (Acts  xv.  1-31),  dogmatically  in 
St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  those  who  re- 
fused to  accept  the  Church's  decisions  on  the  matter 
gradually  forming  themselves  more  and  more  into 
a  schismatical  heretical  body,  not  any  longer  with- 
in, but  henceforth  without,  the  Church's  pale.  But 
this  danger  overcome,  St.  Paul  lived  to  see  before 
the  close  of  his  ministry  the  rise  of  another,  of  ex- 
actly the  opposite  error — that,  namely,  of  heathen 
false  freedom  and  libertinism ;  while  in  the  later 
writings  of  the  New  Covenant,  in  the  Epistle  of  St. 
Jude,  in  the  second  of  St.  Peter,  and  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse of  St.  John  we  find  these  libertine  errors  full 
blown.  They  all  speak  of  lawless  ones  (2  Pet.  ii. 
16),  who  abused- St.  Paul's  doctrine  of  grace  (iii.  16), 
who  promised  liberty  to  others,  being  themselves 
the  servants  of  corruption  (ii.  19),  who  turned  the 
grace  of  God  into  lasciviousness  (Jude  4) ;  or,  as 
these  Nicolaitans,  would  fain  entice  the  servants  of 
God  to  eat  idol  meats  and  commit  fornication.    It 


116        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.       [II.  6. 

is  not  indeed  a  little  remarkable,  as  attesting  the 
identity  of  those  whose  works  the  Lord  here  declares 
that  He  hates  with  them  whom  his  Apostles  de- 
nounce, that  Balaam,  whose  name  as  we  have  seen 
is  the  key-word  to  the  name  which  these  Nicolaitans 
bear,  and  to  the  works  which  they  do,  is  set  forth 
both  by  St.  Peter  (ii.  15)  and  St.  Jnde  (ver.  11)  as 
the  seducer  in  whose  path  of  error  these  later  se- 
ducers were  themselves  running  and  persuading 
others  to  run. 

But  it  may  be  urged  against  this  view  of  the 
matter  that  we  find  actual  Nicolaitans  in  the  second 
century.  Doubtless  we  do  so.  That  there  existed 
in  the  second  and  third  centuries  a  sect  of  antinomian 
Gnostics,  who  bore  this  name,  has  been  denied  by 
some  ;  but  on  grounds  quite  insufficient.  Irenseus 
(i.  xxvi.  3)  is  probably  in  error  when  he  makes  the 
founder  of  this  sect  to  have  been  Nicolas,  the  prose- 
lyte of  Antioch,  of  whom  such  honourable  mention 
is  made  in  the  Acts  (vi.  3,  5) ;  and  who,  if  this  were 
true,  must  afterwards  have  miserably  fallen  away 
from  the  faith ;  while  yet  the  fault  of  Irenaeus  is 
probably  no  more  than  that  he  too  lightly  admitted 
the  claim  which  they  made  to  Nicolas,  as  the  author 
of  their  heresy.  It  is  certainly  difficult  to  see  what 
authority  any  statement  of  his  would  retain  with 
us,  if  we  felt  at  liberty  to  set  aside  his  distinct  as- 
sertion of  such  a  sect  as  existing  in  his  own  time. 


II.  6.]  EPHESUS,  BEV.  IL  1-7.  117 

But  still  more  explicit  are  the  references  made  to 
them  by  Tertullian  (Be  Prcesc.  Hcbt.  46).  It  can- 
not be  said  of  him,  as  it  sometimes  is  of  Irenseus, 
that  he  knows  nothing  about  them  except  what  he 
has  drawn  from  these  passages  of  Scripture  ;  for  he 
gives  an  account  of  their  doctrines,  not  merely  lib- 
ertine, but  Gnostic,  at  considerable  length.  Clem- 
ent of  Alexandria  also  (Strom,  ii.  20)  speaks  without 
hesitation  of  the  Nicolaitans  (ol  (pdcrtcovTes  eavrovs 
Nitcokaw  €7recr0cu)  as  a  body  existing  in  his  day ; 
and  compare  iii.  4,  where  he  records  their  unbridled 
excessive  lusts.  He  indeed  entirely  acquits  Nicolas 
the  deacon  from  having  had  any  share  in  the  au- 
thorship of  this  heresy,  giving  no  credit  to  this 
boasted  genealogy  of  theirs.  The  Apostolic  Consti- 
tutions (vi.  8)  do  the  same.  With  such  distinct  no- 
tices of  Nicolaitans  existing  in  the  second  century, 
it  seems  a  piece  of  unwarranted  scepticism  to  deny 
the  historic  existence  of  such  a  sect.  At  the  same 
time,  there  is  no  need  to  suppose  that  they  were  the 
spiritual  descendants  of  actual  JSTicolaitans,  of  liber- 
tines I  mean,  bearing  this  name,  in  the  times  of  the 
Apostle.  Bather,  springing  up  at  a  later  day,  one 
of  the  innumerable  branches  of  the  Gnostic  heresy, 
they  assumed  this  name  which  they  found  ready 
made  for  them  in  the  Apocalypse.1 

J  The  fullest  collection  of  all  passages  of  antiquity  bearing  on  the 


118        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.       [II.  6. 

It  may  seem  indeed,  at  the  first  showing,  almost 
inconceivable  that  a  sect,  professing  to  stand  even 
in  the  remotest  relation  to  Christianity,  should  ap- 
propriate to  itself  a  name  so  branded  with  infamy 
as  in  Holy  Scripture  is  this.  But  we  must  remem- 
ber that  with  many  of  the  Gnostics  this  was  a  rela- 
tion of  absolute  and  entire  opposition  to  nearly  all 
of  the  Scripture ;  and  the  history  of  these  daring 
fighters  against  God  would  supply  many  parallel 
instances  of  blasphemous  impiety.  Thus,  not  to 
speak  of  the  Ophites,  there  were  the  Cainites  (Ter- 
tullian  indeed  identifies  them  and  the  Nicolaitans, 
De  Prcesc.  Hcer.  33),  all  whose  saints  and  heroes 
were  those  whom  the  Scripture  had  marked  with 
deepest  reprobation,  the  list  beginning  with  Cain 
and  ending  with  Judas  Iscariot  (Tertullian,  De 
Prcesc.  Hcer.  47).  "When  too  we  keep  in  mind  the 
intense  antagonism  of  the  antinomian  Gnostics  to 
John  as  a  judaizing  Apostle,  contradistinguished 
from  Paul,  who  with  their  own  Marcion  was  to 
sit,  Paul  on  the  right  hand,  and  Marcion  on  the 
left  hand,  of  Christ  in  his  kingdom,  being  those 
for  whom  this  was  reserved  of  the  Father  (Matt. 
xx.  23 ;  Origen,  in  Luc.  Horn.  25),  assuredly  there 
will  seem  nothing  strange  that  a  name  which  John 
branded  with  worst  dishonour,  they  who  gloried  in 

Nicolaitans  which  I  know  is  to  be  found  in  Stem's  Commentar  iiber 
die  Ojfrnborunr/,  1854,  pp.  141-145. 


II.  6.]  EPHESUS,  REV.  II.  1-T.  119 

their  shame  should  assume  as  one  of  chiefest  hon- 
our ; — -just  as  in  an  infidel  publication  of  the  present 
day  which  has  sometimes  come  under  my  eye,  there 
are  letters  signed  in  blasphemous  earnest  with  the 
signature  of  "  Antichrist." 

One  point   still  remains.      Is  the  hating  the 
deeds  of  the  Nicolaitans   of  this   verse  identical 
with  not  being  able  to  "  hear  them  which  are  evil " 
of  ver.  2  ?    or,  being  a  grace  growing  out  of  the 
same  holy  impatience  of  evil,  is  there  for  all  this  a 
certain  difference  between  them,  so  that  while  that 
was  rather  a  hatred  of  error  in  doctrine,  of  depar- 
ture from  the  faith  once  delivered,  an  unmasking 
of  them  that  said  they  were  apostles,  and  were  not, 
this  is  more  a  hatred  of  evil  do?ie,  of  the  deeds  of 
the  Kicolaitans  ?     In  other  words,  is  the  Lord  here 
recurring  to  the  good  thing  which  He  has  already 
found   and  praised   in  Ephesus  1    or  is  this  new 
praise,   and   the   recognition  of  a   further   grace? 
Most  expositors  take  for  granted  that  Christ  here 
returns  to  the  praise  which  He  has  already  uttered, 
that  the  Nicolaitans  therefore  are  identical  with 
"  them  that  are  evil  "  of  the  former  verse.     I  can- 
not think  it ;  but  must  see  here  not  the  repetition 
of  praise  bestowed  before,  which  seems  somewhat 
flat,  but  a  further  merit  which  Christ  is  well  pleased 
to  find  and  to  acknowledge  in  his  Church  at  Ephe- 
sus.    The  deeds  of  the  Xicolaitans  were,  no  doubt, 


120        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.       [II.  7. 

the  crowning  wickedness  there,  the  bitter  fruit 
growing  out  of  that  evil  root  of  false  doctrine  ;  but 
whether  in  root  or  fruit  this  evil  was  equally  hated 
by  the  Angel  and  Church  of  Ephesus. 

Yer.  7.  "  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what 
the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  Churches." — These  words 
recur  in  each  of  the  Epistles  ;  with  only  this  differ- 
ence, that  in  the  former  three  they  occur  before,  in 
the  latter  four  after,  the  final  promise.  Is  there 
any  meaning  in  this  change  of  place  ?  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  believe  that  there  is  not.  The  Apocalypse 
is  a  work  of  such  consummate  art,  a  device  of  such 
profound  wisdom,  that  one  is  slow  to  assume  any 
thing  accidental  in  it,  any  departure  from  a  rule 
which  has  been  once  admitted,  without  a  meaning. 
At  the  same  time  I  must  own  that  I  have  never 
seen  any  satisfactory  explanation  of  this.  That  in 
every  case  the  words  usher  in,  or  commend,  truths 
of  the  deepest  concernment  to  all,  there  can  be  no 
doubt.  This  we  might  confidently  argue  from  the 
very  form  of  the  exhortation  ;  but  we  further  gather 
it  from  a  comparison  of  the  passages,  all  of  them 
of  deepest  significance,  where  the  same  summons 
to  attention  recurs  (Matt.  xi.  15  ;  xiii.  9,  43  ;  Mark 
vii.  16  ;  Rev.  xiii.  9) ;  so  that  Irving  (JEkpos.  of  the 
Revelation,  vol.  i.  p.  354)  has  perfect  right  when 
he  affirms,  "  This  form  always  is  used  of  radical  and 
as  it  were  of  generative  truths,  great  principles, 


IL  7.]  EPHESUS,  KEY.  II.  1-7.  121 

most  precious  promises,  most  deep  fetches  from  the 
secrets  of  God,  being  as  it  were  eyes  of  truth,  seeds 
and  kernels  of  knowledge."  These  words  then  pro- 
claim to  us  that  they  are  matters  of  weightiest 
concernment  to  the  whole  Church  of  God,  which 
Christ  is  uttering  here. 

But  let  us  look  a  little  closer  at  them,  and  see 
what  other  lessons  this  summons,  in  the  form  which 
it  here  takes,  is  capable  of  yielding.  And  first  the 
"  ear  "  here  is  not  a  natural  ear,  and  this  therefore 
a  summons  to  every  man,  for  every  man  has  such 
a  natural  ear,  to  attend  to  the  words  now  spoken  ; 
but  rather  the  words  are  an  equivalent  to  the  o 
Swdfjuevos  ^copelv  'xcopeiTQ)  of  Matt.  xix.  12,  and  im- 
ply that,  spiritual  truth  needing  a  spiritual  organ 
for  its  discernment,  only  he  will  be  able  to  hear  to 
whom  God  has  given  the  hearing  ear  (Deut.  xxix. 
4),  whose  ear  He  has  wakened  (Isai.  1.  4,  5) ;  of 
others  it  is  true,  "  their  ear  is  uncircumcised,  and 
they  cannot  hearken  "  (Jer.  vi.  10).  And  yet  for 
all  this  the  words  are  in  another  sense  addressed  to 
every  one,  inasmuch  as  he  who  has  not  this  hearing 
ear,  who  discovers  from  the  failure  of  these  words 
of  Christ  to  reach  the  depths  of  his  spirit,  that  he 
has  it  not,  is  implicitly  bidden  to  seek  it  of  Him, 
who  can  alone  give  it  to  any,  and  who  would  be 
well  pleased  to  give  it  to  all.  But  secondly  we  are 
taught  by  these  words  how  absolute  is  the  identity 


122        EPISTLES  TO   THE  SEVEN  CIIU11C1IES  IN  ASIA.       [II.  7. 

between  the  workings  of  the  Son  and  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  how  truly  the  Spirit  is  the  Spirit  of  the 
Son,  as  of  the  Father.  Christ  has  been  speaking 
throughout ;  but  now  without  a  word  of  explana- 
tion, what  He  speaks  is  declared  to  be  what  the 
Spirit  speaks.  It  is  the  Spirit  who  declares  these 
things  to  the  Churches.  And  in  that  phrase,  "  the 
Churches"  we  are  further  reminded  of  the  univer- 
sal character  which  this  Epistle  and  those  that  fol- 
low it  possess.  It  might  seem  that  all  which  had 
hitherto  been  uttered  had  been  uttered  only  to  one 
Church,  to  that  of  Ephesus  ;  nor  is  it  meant  in  the 
least  to  deny  this  primary  destination,  that  all  the 
reproofs,  encouragements,  warnings,  promises  which 
it  contained  were  designed  for  Ephesus  ;  but  they 
are  not  limited  to  it.  Christ  will  allow  of  no  such 
limitation.  In  a  form  somewhat  more  solemn  He 
virtually  repeats  what  He  once  spoke  in  the  days 
of  his  flesh,  "  What  I  say  unto  you,  I  say  unto 
all ;  "  for,  standing  as  He  does  at  the  central  heart 
of  things,  in  his  particular  there  ever  lies  involved 
an  universal ;  and  therefore  is  it  that  heaven  and 
earth  may  pass  away,  but  his  words  can  never  pass 
away. 

"  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give  to  cat  of 
the  tree  of  life,  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  Para- 
dise of  God."' — It  is  deeply  interesting  and  instruc- 
tive to  observe  how  in  this,  and  probably  in  every 


II.  7.]  EPHESUS,  EEY.  II.  1-7.  123 

other  case,  the  character  of  the  promise  corresponds 
to  the  character  of  the  faithfulness  displayed.    They 
who  have  abstained  from  the  idol  meats,  from  the 
sinful  dainties  of  the  flesh  and  world,  shall,  in  re- 
turn, "  eat  of  the  tree  of  life  /  "  or,  as  it  is  in  the 
Epistle  to  Pergamum,  "  of  the  hidden  manna  "  (ii. 
17)  ;  the  same  law  of  correspondency  and  compen- 
sation being  found,  as  I  have  said,  to  reign  in  most, 
if  not  all  of  the  other  promises  as  well.     They  who 
have  not  feared  those  who  can  kill  the  body  only, 
who  have  given,  where  need  was,  their  bodies  to 
the  flame,  shall  not  be  hurt  by  the  second  death 
(ii.  11).    They  whom  the  world  has  not  vanquished, 
shall  have   dominion   over  the  world  (ii.  26,  27). 
They  who  keep  their  garments  here  undefiled,  shall 
be  clad  in  the  white  and  shining  garments  of  im- 
mortality there  (iii.  4,   5).      They  who  overcome 
Jewish  pretensions  (and  the   earnest  warnings  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  show  us  that  this  for 
some  was  not  done  without  the  hardest  struggle) 
shall  be  made  free,  not  of  an  earthly,  but  of  an 
heavenly,  Jerusalem  (iii.  12).     The  only  Church  in 
which  any  difficulty  occurs  in  tracing  the  correla- 
tion between  the  form  of  the  victory  and  the  form 
of  the  reward,  is  the  last. 

But  this  much  said  by  way  of  general  introduc- 
tion to  all  the  promises,  the  promise  here  may  well 
claim  closer  attention.     "  To  Mm  that  overcometh" 


12dh        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN   CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.       [II.  7. 

The  image  of  the  Christian  as  a  conqueror,  an  over- 
comer,  is  frequent  with  St.  Paul  (2  Tim.  ii.  5  ;  1 
Cor.  ix.  24,  25) ;  but  such  phrases  as  vacav  rov 
koct/iov,  vikclv  rov  Trovrjpov,  or  simply  vlkclv  as  here, 
nowhere  occur  in  his  Epistles — the  only  passage  in 
them  which  in  the  least  resembles  these,  or  where 
the  word  is  used  to  express  the  moral  victory  over 
sin  and  temptation,  is  Bom.  xii.  21.  This  use  of 
viKav,  with  that  single  and  partial  exception,  is  ex- 
clusively St.  John's ;  and  the  frequent  recurrence 
of  it  on  the  one  side  in  his  Gospels  and  Epistles, 
and  on  the  other  in  the  Apocalypse  (thus  compare 
John  xvi.  32  ;  1  Ep.  ii.  13,  14 ;  v.  4,  5,  with  Rev. 
ii.  11,  IT,  26  ;  iii.  5,  12,  21 ;  xii.  11  ;  xxi.  T),  con- 
stitutes an  interesting  point  of  contact  between  the 
language  of  this  Book  and  of  those  others  whereof 
he  was  the  author  as  well ;  and  for  those  who  need 
such  arguments,  as  argument  for  the  identity  of 
the  author  of  those  and  of  this. 

It  is  very  noteworthy,  and  this  "  I  will  give" 
recurring  as  it  does  so  constantly  in  all  these  Epis- 
tles, bids  us  to  note,  how  absolutely  without  re- 
serve or  qualification  Christ  assumes  for  Himself 
throughout  them  all,  the  distribution  of  rewards, 
as  supreme  and  sole  fiLcrOairo^oTri^  (Ileb.  xi.  6)  in 
the  kingdom  of  glory  (ii.  10,  17,  26,  28  ;  iii.  21  ; 
cf.  xxi.  6,  and  2  Tim.  iv.  8).  Elsewhere  St.  Paul 
lias  said,  "The  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life"  (Bom. 


IL  7.]  EPHESUS,  BEV.  II.  1-7.  125 

vi.  22) ;  here  it  appears  eminently  as  the  gift  of 
Christ.  And  his  "  I  will  give"  though  still  in  the 
future,  is  sure.  It  has  nothing  in  it  of  the  Bcoaco  of 
that  ever  promising  but  never  performing  king  of 
Macedon  ;  who,  having  ever  this  same  Bcloaco  on  his 
lips,  but  never  the  Btopov  in  his  hands,  acquired  the 
name  of  Doson,  fastened  as  no  honourable  distinc- 
tion upon  him  who  never  crowned  the  promise 
with  the  performance. 

In  "  the  tree  of  life  "  there  is  manifest  allusion 
to  Gen.  ii.  9.  The  use  of  %vkov,  the  dead  timber  in 
classical  Greek,  for  BivBpov,  the  living  tree,  there  as 
here  is  Hellenistic  ;  not  indeed  exclusively  confined 
to  the  Septuagint  and  the  jSTew  Testament,  being 
found  in  the  Alexandrian  poets,  Callimachus  for 
instance,  as  well ;  indeed,  there  is  an  anticipation 
of  it  in  Herodotus,  iii.  47.  The  tree  which  disap- 
peared with  the  disappearance  of  the  earthly 
Paradise,  reappears  with  the  reappearance  of  the 
heavenly,  Christ's  kingdom  being  in  the  highest 
sense  "  the  restitution  of  all  things  "  (Acts  iii.  21). 
Whatever  had  been  lost  through  Adam's  sin  is 
won  back,  and  that  too  in  a  higher  shape,  through 
Christ's  obedience.  That  the  memory  of  "  the  tree 
of  life  "  had  not  in  the  mean  time  perished,  we 
gather  from  such  passages  as  Prov.  iii.  IS  ;  xi.  30  ; 
xiii.  12  ;  xv.  4.1    To  eat  of  the  tree  of  life  is  a  fig- 

1  The  Rabbis,  of  course,  know  a  great  deal  about  this  "  tree  of 


126        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN   CHUKCHES   IN  ASIA.       [II.  7. 

urative  phrase  to  express  participation  in  the  life 
eternal ;  cf.  Gen.  iii.  22 ;  Ezek.  xlvii.  12  ; l  Kev. 
xxii.  2,  14- ;  2  Esdr.  ii.  12 ;  vii.  53  ;  and  Ecclns. 
xix.  19  :  "  They  that  do  the  things  that  please 
Him  shall  receive  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  immor- 
tality." Compare  the  words  of  the  Christian 
Sibyl : 

Ot  8e  Qeov  TifiSvres  akr)8ivbv  aivaovre 
Zcotjv  K\rjpovofxov<TL  tou  alwvos  xpo^ov,  avToi 
Olicovvres  Hapabeiaov  6p,<as  epiOrjXea  ktjttov, 
Aaivvfifvot.  ykvKvv  liprov  air  ovpavov  dyrepof  j/ror. 

"We  meet  with  echoes  and  reminiscences  of  this 
"  tree  of  life  "  in  the  mythologies  of  many  nations  ; 
or  if  not  actual  reminiscences  of  it,  yet  Teachings 
out  after  it,  as  in  the  Yggdrasil  of  our  own  northern 
mythology  (see  Grimm,  Deutsche  Mythol.  p.  756) ; 
and  still  more  remarkable  in  the  Persian  Horn. 
This  is  the  king  of  trees,  is  called  in  the  Zend- 
Avesta  the  Death-destroyer  ;  it  grows  by  the 
fountain  of  Arduisur,  in  other  words,  the  waters 

life."  Its  boughs  overshadow  the  -whole  of  Paradise.  It  has  five 
hundred  thousand  fragrant  smells,  and  its  fruit  as  many  pleasant 
tastes,  not  one  of  them  resembling  the  other  (Eisenmenger,  Entdccktcs 
Judenthum,  vol.  ii.  p.  311). 

1  Lucian's  words  (  Ver.  Hist  ii.  14),  in  his  account  of  the  Island 
of  the  Blest,  sound  very  much  like  a  scoff  at  this  :  al  p.ky  &fiire\oi  $u- 
Sendcpopoi  ilaiy  Koi  Kara  fxyva  ckouttov  Kapiro(popov<Ti. 


II.  7.]  EPHESUS,  EEV.  II.  1-7.  127 

of  life ;  while  its  sap  drunken  confers  immortality 
(Creuzer,  Symbolik,  vol.  i.  p.  187,  and  often). 

For  the  words,  "  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the 
Paradise  of  God"  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  we 
should  read  simply,  "  which  is  in  the  Paradise  of 
God"  Transcribers  brought  their  " in  the  midst " 
from  Gen.  ii.  9.  JTapaSetcro?  is  a  word  whose  his- 
tory is  well  worth  tracing.  The  word  and  thing 
which  it  designated  are  both  generally  said  to  be 
Persian ;  though  this  is  now  earnestly  denied  by 
some,  who  claim  for  it  a  Semitic  origin  (see  Tuch, 
Genesis ',  p.  68).  As  is  well  known,  it  was  first  nat- 
uralized in  Greek  by  Xenophon,  who  designated 
by  it  the  parks  or  pleasure-gardens  of  Persia,  in 
which  wild  beasts  were  kept,  or  stately  trees  grown 
(Hell.  iv.  1.  15  ;  Cyrop.  i.  4.  11),  being  at  once  the 
"  vivarium  "  and  the  "  viridarium  "  of  the  Eomans. 
Classical  Latin  did  not  know  the  word  '  paradisus ' 
(see  A.  Gellius,  ii.  20.  4,  and  the  long  circumlocu- 
tion by  which  Cicero,  De  Senect.  17,  is  compelled 
to  express  the  thing).  Where  the  Septuagint  em- 
ploys irapdSeio-os,  it  is  commonly  to  designate  the 
garden  of  Eden  (Gen.  ii.  8  ;  iii.  1 ;  Ezek.  xxviii. 
13),  though  sometimes  employing  it  for  any  stately 
garden  of  delight  whatever  (Isai.  i.  30 ;  Jer.  xxix. 
5  ;  Eccl.  ii.  5)  :  iwoLrjaa  /hoc  ktjttov^  koX  7rapa&e[crov<$). 
The  word,  when  it  appears  in  the  New  Testament, 
has  taken  a  great  spring.     The  ideal  beauty  of  that 


128        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.       [II.  T. 

dwelling-place  of  our  first  parents,  perhaps  also  the 
fact  that  it  had  now  vanished  from  the  earth,  has 
caused  the  name  "  Paradise  "  to  be  transferred  to 
that  region  and  province  in  Hades,  or  the  invisible 
world,  where  the  souls  of  the  faithful  are  gathered, 
waiting  for  their  perfect  consummation  and  bliss. 
"  Their  [the  Jews']  meaning  therefore  was  this ; 
that  as  paradise,  or  the  garden  of  Eden,  wa£  a 
place  of  great  "Beauty,  pleasure,  and  tranquillity,  so 
the  state  of  separate  souls  was  a  state  of  peace  and 
excellent  delights  "  (J.  Taylor).  It  is  in  this  sense 
that  Christ  allowed  and  employed  the  term,  when 
to  the  dying  thief  He  said,  "  This  day  shalt  thou 
be  with  Me  in  Paradise "  (Luke  xxii.  43).1  But 
even  this  is  not  all.  The  word  takes  a  higher 
meaning  yet ;  for  this  inferior  Paradise  is  not  to 
be  confounded  with  the  heavenly  Paradise,  "  the 
Paradise  of  God"  as  it  is  here  called,  "  the  third 
heaven,"  where  is  the  presence  and  glory  of  God 
(2  Cor.  xii.  2,  4).a  "We  may  thus  trace  Trapaheiaos 
passing  through  a  series  of  meanings,  each  one 
higher  than  the  last ;  from  any  garden  of  delight, 

1  The  most  interesting  passages  in  the  Fathers  on  Paradise  as  this 
middle  state,  are  Tertullian,  De  Animd,  55  (his  book  De  Paradiso 
has  not  reached  us) ;  and  Origen,  De  Princ.  ii.  11.  6. 

a  There  is  much  about  both  Paradises,  the  upper  and  the  under, 
as  the  Jews  were  wont  to  call  them,  in  Eisenmenger,  Bntfate^  Hr 
denthum,  vol.  ii.  pp.  260-320. 


II.  7.]  EPHESUS,  EEV.  II.  1-7.  129 

which  is  its  first  meaning,  it  comes  to  be  predom- 
inantly applied  to  the  garden  of  Eden,  then  to  the 
resting-place  of  separate  sonls  in  joy  and  felicity, 
and  lastly,  to  the  very  heaven  itself;  and  we  see 
eminently  in  it,  what  we  see  indeed  in  so  many 
words,  how  revealed  religion  assumes  them  into 
her  service,  and  makes  them  vehicles  of  far  higher 
truth  than  any  which  they  knew  at  first,  transform- 
ing and  transfiguring  them,  as  in  this  case,  from 
glory  to  glory. 

This  "  tree  of  life"  with  the  privilege  of  eating 
of  its  fruits,  as  belonging  to  the  faithful  overcomer, 
reappears  at  the  close  of  this  Book  (xxii.  2,  14). 
Indeed  it  is  very  interesting  to  note,  and  here  will 
be  a  fit  opportunity  for  noting,  the  fine  and  subtle 
bands  which  knit  one  part  of  the  Apocalypse  to 
another,  the  marvellous  art,  if  we  may  dare  to  use 
an  earthly  word  speaking  of  a  heavenly  fact,  with 
which  this  Book  is  constructed.  Especially  these 
seven  Epistles,  which  at  first  sight  might  appear, 
which  to  some  have  appeared,  to  hang  loosely  on 
the  rest,  to  be  but  slightly  attached,  do  yet  on 
nearer  examination  prove  to  be  bound  to  it  by  the 
closest  possible  bands.  There  is  not  one  of  the 
promises  made  to  the  faithful  in  these  second  and 
third  chapters,  which  does  not  look  on  to,  and  per- 
haps first  finds  its  explanation  in,  some  later  portion 
of  the  Book.     Thus  the  eating  of  the  tree  of  life,  at 


130        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN   CIIUKUHE5  IN  ASIA.       [II.  7. 

xxii.  2,  14,  19  ;  deliverance  from  the  second  death 
(ii.  11)  receives  its  solemn  commentary,  xx.  14  ;  xxi. 
8  ;  the  writing  of  the  new  name  of  ii.  17  reappears 
xiv.  1 ;  the  dominion  over  the  heathen  of  ii.  26  at 
xx.  4 ;  the  morning  star  of  ii.  28  at  xxii.  16 ;  the 
white  garments  of  iii.  5  at  iv.  4 ;  vii.  9,  13 ;  the 
name  found  written  in  the  book  of  life  of  iii.  5  at 
xiii.  8  ;  xx.  15  ;  the  "New  Jerusalem  and  the  citi- 
zenship in  it  of  iii.  12  at  xxi.  10  ;  xxii.  14 ;  the  sit- 
ting upon  the  throne  of  iii.  21  at  iv.  4.1 

There  is  one  thing  more  to  observe  before  leav- 
ing this  promise, — namely  the  large  amount  of 
evidence  in  favour  of  a  very  interesting  reading, — 
"  in  the  Paradise  of  my  God  "  (rod  Geov  /xov).  It 
is  not  hard  to  understand  the  motives  which  led  to 

1  Very  beautifully  Bengel  on  this  matter,  though  his  words  refer 
not  to  the  seven  Epistles  only,  but  to  the  whole  Book :  "  Partes  hujus 
libri  passim  inter  se  respiciunt.  Omnino  structura  libri  hujus  prorsus 
artem  divinam  spirat ;  estque  ejus  quodam  modo  proprium,  ut  res 
futuras  multas,  et  in  multitudine  varias,  proximas,  intermedias,  remo- 
tissimas,  maximas,  minimas,  terribiles,  salutares,  ex  veteribus  prophe- 
tis  repetitas,  novas,  longas,  breves,  easque  inter  se  contextas,  opposi- 
tas,  compositas,  seque  mutuo  involventes  et  evolventes,  ad  se  invicem 
ex  intervallo  parvo  aut  magno  respicientes,  adeoque  interdum  quasi 
disparentes,  abruptas,  suspensas,  et  postea  de  improviso  opportunissi- 
me  sub  conspectum  redeuntes,  absoluto  compendio  complcctatur ; 
atque  his  rebus,  qua?  complectitur  liber,  structura  libri  exacte  respon- 
ded Itaque  in  omnibus  suis  partibus  admirabilem  habet  varietatem, 
spirasque  pulcerrimas,  simulque  summam  harmoniam,  per  ipsas  ano* 
malias,  qua?  illam  interpellarc  videntur,  valdc  illustratam." 


II.  7.]  EPHESUS,  REV.  II.  1-7.  131 

the  omission  of  this  fiov — the  fear  namely  of  Arian 
conclusions,  or  others  dishonourable  to  the  divinity 
of  Christ,  which  may  probably  have  influenced  tran- 
scribers. Such  fears  are  altogether  superfluous,  as 
Arethas  long  ago  observed.  This  Scripture  does 
but  say  what  innumerable  others  say  as  well.  The 
Lord  after  his  resurrection  could  speak  of  "  my 
Father  and  your  Father,  my  God  and  your  God  " 
(John  xx.  17) ;  and  compare  in  this  very  Book, 
"  the  temple  of  my  God,"  "  the  name  of  my 
God,"  "  the  city  of  my  God  "  (iii.  12) ;  while  St. 
Paul  does  not  scruple  to  speak  of  the  God,  as  well 
as  the  Father,  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  (Ephes. 
i.  17). 


II. 

EPISTLE  TO  THE  CHURCH  OF  SIYMA. 

Key.  ii.  8-11. 


Yer.  8.  "  And  unto  the  Angel  of  the  Church  in 
Smyrna  write" — The  next  in  order  to  Ephesus  of 
the  seven  Churches  is  Smyrna,  the  next  in  the  nat- 
ural order  as  it  is  also  in  the  spiritual,  lying  as  it 
does  a  little  to  the  north  of  that  city.  Smyrna, 
ayaXfjia  tt)<;  Acias,  as  it  has  been  called,  was  one 
of  the  fairest  and  noblest  cities  of  Ionia ;  most  fa- 
vourably placed  upon  the  coast  to  command  the 
trade  of  the  Levant,  which  equally  in  old  and 
modern  times  it  has  enjoyed.  In  early  ecclesias- 
tical history  Smyrna  is  chiefly  famous  as  the 
Church  over  which  Polycarp  presided  as  bishop. 
This  Church  must  have  been  founded  at  a  very 
early  date,  though  there  is  no  mention  of  it  either 
in  the  Acts  or  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul.  Knowing 
as  we  do  that  at  a  period  only  a  little  later  than 
this,  Polycarp  was  bishop  there,  a  very  interesting 


I.  I.]  SMYKNA,  EEV.  II.  8-11.  133 

question  presents  itself  to  us,  namely,  whether  he 
might  not  have  been  bishop  now  ;  whether  he  may 
not  be  the  Angel  to  whom  this  Epistle  is  addrest. 
There  is  much  to  make  this  probable  ;  and  the  fact, 
if  it  were  so,  would  throw  much  light  on  the  char- 
acter of  the  Epistle,  and  beautifully  account  for 
that  key-note  of  martyrdom  to  which  it  is  set ; 
while  the  difficulties  which  some  find  in  this,  rest 
mainly  on  the  erroneous  assumption  that  the  Apoc- 
alypse was  composed  under  Nero  or  Galba,  and 
not  under  Domitian.  It  is  true  indeed  that  we 
have  thus  to  assume  an  episcopate  of  his,  which 
lasted  for  more  than  seventy  years  ;  for  "  the  good 
confession"  of  Polycarp  did  not  take  place  till 
the  year  168,  while  the  Apocalypse  was  probably 
written  in  96.  Let  us  see,  however,  how  far  eccle- 
siastical history  will  bear  us  out  in  this.  As  early 
as  108  Ignatius  on  his  way  to  his  Roman  martyr- 
dom found  Polycarp  the  bishop  or  Angel  of  the 
Church  of  Smyrna  {Hart.  Ign.  3),  addressing  to 
him  a  letter  which,  despite  of  all  which  has  been 
said  against  it,  must  still  be  considered  genuine. 
"We  have  only  to  extend  his  episcopate  twelve 
years  a  parte  ante,  and  he  will  have  been  Angel 
of  Smyrna  when  this  Epistle  was  addrest  to  that 
Church. 

Is  there  any  great  unlikelihood  in  this?     His 
reply  to  the  Eoman  Governor,  who  tempted  him 


134:        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUBCHES  IN  ASIA.         [I.  1. 

to  save  his  life  by  denying  his  Lord,  is  well  known 
— namely  that  he  conld  not  thus  renounce  a  Lord 
whom  for  eighty  and  six  years  he  had  served,  and 
during  all  this  time  had  received  nothing  but  good 
from  Him  (De  S.  Polyc.  Mart.  9 ;  Eusebius,  H. 
E  iv.  15).  But  these  "  eighty  and  six  years  "  can 
scarcely  represent  the  whole  length  of  his  life,  for 
Irengeus  (Adv.  Hcer.  iii.  3.  4 ;  cf.  Eusebius,  H.  E. 
iv.  14)  lays  such  a  stress  on  the  extreme  old  age 
which  Polycarp  had  attained,  that,  great  as  this 
age  is,  we  must  yet  esteem  the  number  of  his  years 
to  have  been  greater  still.  They  represent  no 
doubt  the  years  since  his  conversion.  Counting 
back  eighty-six  years  from  the  year  168,  being 
that  of  his  martyrdom,  we  have  a.d.  82  as  the 
year  when  he  was  first  in  Christ.  This  will  give 
us  fourteen  years  as  the  period  which  will  have 
elapsed  from  his  conversion  to  that  when  this  pres- 
ent Epistle  was  written,  during  which  time  he  may 
very  well  have  attained  the  post  of  chiefest  honour 
and  toil  and  peril  in  the  Church  of  Smyrna.  Ter- 
tullian  indeed  distinctly  tells  us  that  he  was  con- 
secrated bishop  of  Smyrna  by  St.  John  (De  Prcesc. 
Hceret.  32) ;  and  Irenseus,  who  declares  to  us  that 
he  had  himself  in  his  youth  often  talked  with  Poly- 
carp, declares  the  same  (Eusebius,  II  E.  iv.  14 ; 
cf.  iii.  36  ;  Jerome,  Catal.  Script,  s.  v.  Polycarpus  ; 
Jacobson,  Patt.  Apostoll.  p.  564 ;  and  Rothe,  Die 


II.  9.]  SMYRNA,  EEV.  II.  8-11.  135 

Anfange  d.  christl.  Kirche,  p.  429).  There  are 
then  very  sufficient  reasons  for  thinking  it  at  least 
possible,  to  me  it  seems  probable,  that  to  Poly  carp 
himself  the  words  which  follow  were  first  spoken. 

"  These  things  saith  the  first  and  the  last,  which 
was  dead,  and  is  alive" — Being  addressed,  as  this 
Epistle  is,  to  a  Church  exposed,  and  hereafter  to 
be  still  more  exposed,  to  the  fiercest  blasts  of  per- 
secution, it  is  graciously  ordered  that  all  the  attri- 
butes which  Christ  here  claims  for  Himself  should 
be  such  as  would  encourage  and  support  his  ser- 
vants in  their  trials  and  distress.  Brightman : 
"  Titulos  sibi  sumit  [Christus]  qui  praesenti  rerum 
conditioni  conveniunt.  Unde  varium  suse  glorias 
radium  in  singulis  Epistolis  spargit,  pro  varia  for- 
tuna  qua  sunt  Ecclesige."  For  these  titles  of  Christ, 
"  the  first  and  the  last"  and  "  which  was  dead,  and 
is  alive"  or  rather,  " who  became  dead,  and  lived 
again,"  see  i.  17,  18.  "E&aev  here  is  not  "  vixit," 
but  "  revixit "  (cf.  Ezek.  xxxvii.  3  ;  John  v.  25 ; 
Rev.  xiii.  14) ;  death  having  been  for  Him  only 
the  passage  to  a.  more  glorious  life.  How  then 
should  his  servants  fear  them  who  could  kill  the 
body,  and  then  had  nothing  more  which  they 
could  do  ?  how  should  they  doubt  of  committing 
their  souls  to  One,  who  had  so  triumphantly  re- 
deemed his  own  ? 

Yer.  9.  "I  know  thy  vjorks,  and  tribulation, 


136        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.       [II.  9. 

and  poverty ;  but  thou  art  rich" — For  the  first 
clause  see  what  has  been  said  already  on  ver.  2 ; 
the  words  of  themselves  express  neither  praise  nor 
blame.  The  "  tribulation  "  refers  out  of  all  doubt 
to  the  affliction  which  the  Church  of  Smyrna  en- 
dured at  the  hands  of  its  Jewish  and  heathen  per- 
secutors and  oppressors,  6\l/3eiv  and  6\tyi<;  being 
constant  words  to  express  this  (1  Thess.  iii.  4  ;  Heb. 
xi.  37  ;  Acts  xx.  23  ;  Eev.  i.  9,  and  often).  So  too 
their  "poverty "  will  probably  have  come  upon 
them  through  the  spoiling  of  their  goods  (Heb.  x. 
34),  and  the  various  wrongs  in  their  worldly  estate 
which  the  profession  of  the  faith  of  Christ  will  have 
brought  with  it. 

"  But  thou  art  rich" — How  much  better  this, 
poor  in  the  esteem  of  the  world,  but  rich  before 
Christ,  than  the  condition  of  the  Laodicean  Angel, 
rich  in  his  own  esteem,  but  most  poor  in  the  sight 
of  Christ  (iii.  17).  There  can,  of  course,  be  no 
doubt  that  "  rich  "  here  means  rich  in  grace  (cf. 
Eom.  viii.  32  ;  Col.  ii.  3  ;  1  Tim.  vi.  IS),  having 
treasure  in  heaven  (Matt.  vi.  20  ;  xix.  21  ;  Luke 
xii.  21),  as  the  same  word  irXovcrto?  expresses  in  a 
similar,  but  yet  a  far  higher  sense,  rich  in  glory 
elsewhere  (2  Cor.  viii.  9).  These  words,  to  which 
James  ii.  5-7  furnishes  a  remarkable  parallel,  con- 
stitute a  very  beautiful  parenthesis,  declaring  as 
they  do  the  judgment  of  heaven  concerning  this 


II.  9.]  SMYRNA,  EEV.  II.  8-11.  137 

Church  of  Smyrna,  as  contradistinguished  from  the 
judgment  of  earth.  Men  saw  nothing  there  save 
the  poverty,  but  He  who  sees  not  as  man  seeth, 
saw  the  true  riche  *which  this  seeming  poverty  con- 
cealed, which  indeed  the  poverty,  rightly  inter- 
preted, was  ;  even  as  He  too  often  sees  the  real 
poverty  which  may  lie  behind  the  show  of  riches ; 
for  there  are  both  poor  rich-men  and  rich  poor-men 
in  his  sight. 

"  And  I  Is/now  the  blasphemy  of  them  which 
say  they  are  Jews,  and  are  not,  hut  are  the  syna- 
gogue of  Satan." — The  most  important  question 
which  presents  itself  here  is,  In  what  sense  shall 
we  take  the  term  "  Jeivs  "  f  by  "  those  which  say 
they  are  Jews,  and  are  not"  shall  we  understand 
Jews  literally  so  called,  who,  being  the  natural 
seed  of  Abraham,  claimed  also  to  be  the  spiritual ; 
or  accepting  "  Jews  "  here  as  the  designation  of  the 
true  circumcision  not  made  with  hands,  that  is,  of 
Christians,  shall  we  see  in  these,  some  who  claimed 
to  be  Christians,  but  whose  right  to  belong  to  his 
Church  Christ  here  denies?  The  former  appears 
to  me  the  preferable  interpretation.  The  analogy 
of  such  passages  as  Eom.  ii.  28,  29 ;  ix.  6  ;  Phil, 
iii.  2,  3,  seems  to  point  this  way.1     Then  again 

1  There  is  a  long  discussion  in  one  of  Augustine's  letters  {Ep. 
cxcvi.  §  6-16),  how  far  Christians,  as  the  true  circumcision,  might 
rightfully  be  called  Jews. 


138        EPISTLES  TO  TUE  SEVEN   CIIUECHES  IN  ASIA.       [II.  9. 

these  opposers  and  blasphemers  were  evidently 
persecutors  to  bonds  and  death  of  the  faithful  at 
Smyrna  ;  but,  extreme  shame  and  disgrace  as  some 
of  the  heretical  sects  were  bringing  on  the  true 
Church  at  this  time,  there  is  no  tittle  of  evidence 
that  they  had  the  power  or  the  desire  to  persecute 
it  with  the  weapons  of  outward  persecution.  It 
was  otherwise,  however,  with  the  Jews  literally  so 
named.  "What  their  '  blasphemy  '  against  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  against  the  Lord  of  glory,  but  known  to 
them  as  "  the  hanged  one,"  was,  and  still  is,  we 
know  only  too  well  (see  Eisenmenger,  Entdecldes 
Judenthum,  vol.  i.  pp.  61-188).  While  too  the 
opposition  of  the  heathen  was  still  languid  and 
occasional,  the  jealousy  of  Borne  being  hardly 
awakened,  the  fierceness  of  their  enmity,  the  eager- 
ness with  which  they  sought  to  arouse  that  of  the 
heathen,  almost  every  page  in  the  Acts  declares 
(xiii.  50 ;  xiv.  2,  5,  19 ;  xvii.  5  ;  xxiv.  2 ;  1  Thess. 
ii.  14) ;  and  many  a  page  of  early  ecclesiastical 
history  no  less.  Moreover,  this  blasphemy  and 
malignant  antagonism  of  the  Jews  against  the 
truth  displayed  itself  in  bitterest  enmity  against 
this  very  Church  of  Smyrna.  We  learn  from  that 
precious  document,  the  Epistle  of  the  Church  of 
Smyrna  recording  the  martyrdom  of  Polycarp,  that 
Jews  joined  with  heathens  in  crying  out  in  the  am- 
phitheatre that  the  Christian  bishop  should  be  cast 


11.  9]  SMYBNA,  EEV.  II.  8-11.  139 

to  the  lions  ;  and  when  there  was  a  difficulty  about 
this,  that  he  should  be  burned  alive ;  which  being 
granted,  the  Jews,  as  was  their  wont  (a>9  e'0o? 
afoot?),  were  foremost  and  forwardest  in  bringing 
logs  for  the  pile ;  they,  too,  doing  all  that  lay  in 
their  power  to  hinder  the  remains  of  the  martyr 
from  being  delivered  to  his  followers  for  burial  (ch. 

12,  13,  IT). 

In  the  words  which  follow,  "  hut  are  the  syn- 
agogue of  Satan"  I  find  another  proof  that  Jews, 
literally  so  called,  are  intended.  To  them  belonged 
the  synagogue,  to  Christians  the  Church.  Through- 
out all  the  New  Testament  avvaycoyrj  is  only  once 
used  for  a  Christian  place  of  assembly  (Jam.  ii.  2), 
never  for  the  body  of  the  faithful  •  in  Christ  Jesus. 
With  this  one  exception,  capable  of  an  easy  expla- 
nation (see  my  Synonyms  of  the  New  Testament^ 
§  1),  the  word  is  abandoned  to  the  Jews.  And 
that  of  theirs,  which  might  have  been  the  Church 
of  the  living  God,  is  now  "  the  synagogue  of  Satan  " 
— a  hard  saying,  a  terrible  word,  but  one  which 
they,  once  the  chosen  people  of  the  Lord,  had 
wrought  with  all  their  might  to  deserve.  Nothing 
else  indeed  was  possible  for  them,  if  they  would 
not  be  his  people  indeed  ;  they  could  not  be  as  the 
heathen,  merely  wcw-Christian,  they  must  be  anti- 
Christian.  The  measure  of  their  former  nearness 
to  God  was  the  measure  of  their  present  distance 


140        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.     [II.  10. 

from  Him.  In  the  height  to  which  they  were 
lifted  up  was  included  the  depth  to  which,  if  they 
did  not  continue  at  that  height,  they  must  inevi- 
tably fall.  And  this,  true  for  them,  is  true  also 
for  all. — As  nothing  is  accidental  in  this  Book,  so 
it  is  worth  remarking  that  as  we  have  here  "  the 
synagogue  of  Satan"  so  presently  "  the  throne  of 
Satan "  (ii.  13),  and  then  lastly,  "  the  depths  of 
Satan  "  (ii.  24)  ;  "  the  synagogue  of  Satan  "  repre- 
senting the  Jewish  antagonism  to  the  Church,  "  the 
throne  of  Satan  "  the  heathen,  and  "  the  depths  of 
Satan  "  the  heretical. 

Yer.  10.  "  Fear  none  of  those  things  which  thou 
shalt  suffer" — The  great  Captain  of  our  salvation 
never  keeps  back  or  conceals  what  those  who  faith- 
fully witness  for  Him  may  have  to  bear  for  his 
name's  sake  ;  never  entices  recruits  into  his  service, 
or  seeks  to  retain  them  under  his  banner,  by  the 
promise  that  they  shall  find  all  things  easy  and 
pleasant  there.  So  far  from  this,  He  says  of  Paul 
at  the  outset  of  his  apostolic  career,  "  I  will  show 
him  how  great  things  he  must  suffer  for  my  name's 
sake  "  (Acts  ix.  1G  ;  cf.  Matt.  x.  16-31 ;  Luke  ix. 
23;  John  xvi.  1,  23;  Ezek.  ii.  3-7;  Jer.  i.  19); 
and  in  like  manner  He  announces  to  the  Angel  of 
Smyrna  that  bonds,  and  tribulation,  and  death  it- 
self, are  before  him  and  before  others,  as  many  as 
at  Smyrna  shall  continue  faithful  to  the  end.     But 


II.  10.]  SMYPwNA,  EEV.  II.  S-ll.  141 

for  all  this  they  are  not  to  fear.  Presently  He  will 
declare  to  them  why  they  should  not  fear ;  but 
first  he  further  unrolls  in  their  sight  the  scroll  of 
their  sufferings. 

u  Behold,  the  devil  shall  cast  some  of  you  into 
^prison,  that  ye  may  he  triedP — 'O  $cd/3o\o<;  (= 
Karr/ycop,  Rev.  xii.  10),  a  name  given  to  Satan  by 
the  Alexandrian  translators  with  reference  to  the 
work  of  accuser  ascribed  to  him,  Job  i.  2  ;  Zech. 
iii.  1,  2.  How  well  under  him  the  Jews  played 
the  secondary  role  of  Bcdl3oXoc,  first  against  the 
Lord  Himself,  and  then  against  his  servants,  ap- 
pears in  the  Gospels  (Luke  xxiii.  2  ;  John  xix.  12), 
in  the  Acts  (xvii.  5-8  ;  xxiv.  2),  and  in  all  the  early 
Church  history.  From  a  multitude  of  passages  in 
Justin  Martyr's  Dialogue  icith  Trypho,  and  Ori- 
gen's  answer  to  Celsus  (iii.  1 ;  vi.  27),  it  is  clear 
that  they  were  the  authors  of  the  calumnies  against 
the  Christians  with  which  the  malice  of  the  heathen 
was  stimulated  and  fed. 

The  manner  in  which  this  persecution  of  the 
saints  is  here  traced  to  the  direct  agency  of  Satan, 
is  very  well  worthy  of  note.  We  sometimes  assume 
that  Christians  were  persecuted,  because  the  truth 
for  which  they  bore  witness  affronted  the  pride, 
the  prejudices,  and  the  passions  of  men ;  and  this 
is  true  ;  but  we  have  not  so  reached  to  the  ground 
of  the  matter.     There  is  nothing  more  remarkable 


142        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.     [II.  10. 

in  the  records  which  have  come  down  to  us  of  the 
early  persecutions,  and  in  this  point  they  singularly 
illustrate  the  Scripture  before  us,  than  the  sense 
which  the  confessors  and  martyrs,  and  those  who 
afterwards  narrate  their  sufferings  and  their  tri- 
umphs, entertain  and  utter,  that  these  great  fights 
of  affliction  through  which  they  were  called  to 
pass,  were  the  immediate  work  of  the  Devil,  and 
no  mere  result  of  the  offended  passions,  prejudices, 
or  interests  of  men.  The  enemies  of  flesh  and 
blood,  as  mere  tools  and  instruments,  are  nearly 
lost  sight  of  by  them  in  a  continual  reference  to 
Satan  as  the  invisible  but  real  author  of  all.  And 
assuredly  they  had  right.  So  we  might  boldly 
say,  even  if  we  had  not  the  warrant  of  such  Scrip- 
tures as  this.  Thus,  who  that  reads  that  story  of 
the  persecution  of  the  saints  at  Lyons  and  Vienne, 
a.d.  177,  happily  preserved  for  us  by  Eusebius  (II. 
E.  v.  1)  in  the  very  words  of  the  survivors,  that 
wondrous  tale  of  persistent  inventive  cruelty  on 
the  part  of  the  heathen,  overmatched  by  a  super- 
human patience  on  the  part  of  the  faithful,  but 
must  feel  that  here  there  is  infinitely  more  than  a 
conflict  of  bad  men  with  good  ?  There  is  rather 
on  the  one  side  an  outbreak  from  the  bottomless 
pit,  the  might  and  malice  of  the  Devil,  making 
war  against  God  in  the  person  of  his  saints  ;  on  the 
other,  such  a  victory  over  Satan  as  could  only  have 


II.  10.]  SMYRNA,   EEV.  II.  8-11.  143 

been  surpassed  when  Christ  Himself  beheld  him 
fall  like  lightning  from  heaven.  This  reference  to 
the  Devil  as  the  primary  author  of  all  assaults  upon 
the  Church,  the  sense  of  which  speaks  out  so  strik- 
ingly in  these  Acta  Martyrum  of  the  Gallic  mar- 
tyrs, hardly  speaks  out  less  strongly  in  others ; 
thus  see  the  Ep.  de  8.  Polycarpi  Mart.  iii.  17,  19  ; 
Mart.  Ignat.  7. 

From  the  fact  that  our  Translators  have  ren- 
dered tva  Treipaa&fjTe,  "that  ye  may  he  tried"  we 
may  certainly  conclude  that  they  contemplated 
these  7T€ipa<jfjL0L  rather  as  the  gracious  trials  of  God 
(cf.  Jam.  i.  2,  3  ;  1  Pet.  i.  7)  than  the  temptations 
of  the  Devil.  Yet  assuredly  this  is  not  so ;  and 
Tyndale  and  Cranmer,  who  translate,  "  to  tempt 
you"  are  to  be  preferred  ;  so  Marckius  :  "  Ut  ten- 
temini ;  non  simplici  probatione  constantiae,  quo 
pacto  Deus  tentat  suos,  sed  incitatione  ad  malum 
et  infidelitatem,  quo  pacto  Deus  neminem  tentat." 
Temptation  from  the  Devi],  not  trial  or  proof  from 
a  Heavenly  Father's  hand,  is  that  which,  according 
to  this  word  of  the  Lord,  was  in  store  for  them.  It 
is  indeed  perfectly  true  that  the  same  event  is  often- 
times both  the  one  and  the  other — God  sifting  and 
winnowing  the  man  to  separate  his  chaff  from  his 
wheat,  the  Devil  sifting  and  winnowing  him  in  the 
hope  that  nothing  else  but  chaff  will  be  found  in 
him.     It  is  quite  true  also  that  ireipd^eiv  is  used  in 


14i        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.     [II.  10. 

both  senses ;  sometimes  in  a  sense  closely  border- 
ing upon  that  of  Bo/ujid£eiv9  and  then  ascribed  to 
God,  who,  as  the  supreme  SoKC/jLacrrrj^  tcov  /capSiwv, 
tempts  and  makes  trial  of  his  servants  to  show 
them  what  of  sin,  of  infirmity,  of  unbelief  is  in 
themselves  ;  and  showing  them  this,  to  leave  them 
holier  than  before  this  temptation  He  found  them 
(Heb.  xi.  17  :  cf.  Gen.  xxii.  1  ;  Exod.  xv.  25 ; 
Deut.  xiii.  3).  At  the  same  time  ireipaCpiv  is  much 
oftener  used  of  tempting  oy  the  Devil,  solicitation 
on  his  part  to  evil  (Matt.  iv.  1 ;  1  Cor.  x.  13  ;  Gal. 
vi.  1 ;  1  Thess.  hi.  5  ;  Heb.  ii.  18  ;  Jam.  i.  13) ; 
and  the  words  going  immediately  before,  "  Behold 
the  Devil  will  cast  some  of  you  into  prison"  are 
decisive  that  the  Lord  is  here  warning  his  servants, 
as  He  did  in  the  days  of  his  personal  ministry  upon 
earth,  against  fierce  assaults  of  their  ghostly  enemy 
which  were  close  at  hand,  that  so  by  watchfulness 
and  prayer  they  might  be  able  to  stand  in  the  evil 
day  that  was  so  near  (Luke  xxii.  32). 

The  temptations  of  imprisonment  He  especially 
adduces  here.  In  the  records  of  the  Church's  early 
conflicts  with  the  heathen,  we  constantly  find  the 
prison  doing  its  work ;  those  who  endured  torture 
bravely  being  returned  to  prison,  that  so  it  might 
be  seen  whether  hunger  and  thirst,  darkness  and 
chains,  would  not  be  effectual  in  breaking  down 
by  little  and  little  the  courage  and  the  steadfastness 


II.  10.]  8MTENA,  BEV.  II.  8-11.  145 

which  had  resisted  manfully  the  first  onset  of  the 
foe.  Sometimes  it  would  prove  so.  The  Church's 
early  story,  furnishing  in  the  main  a  glorious  com- 
mentary on  these  words,  furnishes  a  mournful  com- 
mentary as  well.  "When  temptations  such  as  the 
Lord  here  speaks  of  arrived,  it  would  be  ever  seen 
that  there  were  many  weak  brethren,  and  some 
false  brethren ;  and  the  Church,  rejoicing  over  the 
steadfastness  of  multitudes  among  her  children, 
had  yet  to  mourn  over  the  faltering  infirmity  of 
some,  and  the  bold  apostasy  of  others  (Eusebius, 
H.  E.  v.  1.  10  ;  Cyprian,  Be  Zaps.  1,  2). 

"  And  ye  shall  have  tribulation  ten  days." — For 
efere  Lachmann  and  others  have  received  into  the 
text  exrjTe,  which  then  equally  with  ireLpaa^re  will 
depend  on  Xva.  These  "  ten  days"  during  which 
the  tribulation  of  Smyrna  shall  endure,  have  been 
very  variously  interpreted,  some  understanding  by 
them  a  very  long  period  (cf.  Gen.  xxxi.  41 ;  Job 
xix.  3 ;  Num.  xiv.  22)  ;  and  some  a  very  short 
(Gen.  xxiv.  55  ;  Num.  xi.  19).  Those  who  inter- 
pret in  the  former  sense  have  very  commonly  seen 
here  allusion  to  the  ten  persecutions  which  the 
Church  is  often  said  to  have  passed  through, 
during  the  three  hundred  years  of  its  conflict  with 
heathen  Eome.  It  has  been  objected  that  this 
enumeration  of  exactly  ten  persecutions  is  merely 
an  arbitrary  one ;   that,  if  we  include  in  our  list 


lttG        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCHES  IN  ASIA.     [II.  10. 

only  those  which  had  some  right  to  be  called  gen- 
eral, as  extending  over  the  whole  Roman  empire, 
the  persecutions  would  not  be  so  many  ;  if  all  those 
which  reached  any  one  Church  or  province,  they 
would  be  many  more.  But,  setting  this  objection 
aside,  I  am  persuaded  we  must  look  for  something 
very  different  here  from  an  announcement  of  the 
great  length  of  time  over  which  the  persecution 
would  extend  ;  the  "  ten  days  "  declare  rather  the 
shortness  of  time  within  which  all  this  tyranny 
would  be  overpast.  I  conclude  this  from  the  fact 
that  only  so  will  the  words  fall  in  with  the  whole 
temper  and  spirit  of  this  verse,  which  is  encourag- 
ing and  consolatory  throughout.  Here,  as  so  often 
elsewhere,  the  briefness  of  a  trial  is  urged  as  a  mo- 
tive for  the  patient  endurance  of  it  (cf.  Isai.  xxvi. 
20  ;  liv.  8  ;  Ps.  xxx.  5  ;  Matt.  xxiv.  22  ;  2  Cor.  iv. 
17 ;  1  Pet.  i.  G  ;  v.  30). 

"  Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give 
thee  a  crown  of  life? — More  than  one  of  the  early 
Fathers  have  written  an  "  Exhortatio  ad  Martyr- 
ium"  but  what  are  they  all  as  compared  with  this  ? 
It  needs  hardly  be  observed  that  this  "  unto  death  " 
is  an  intensive,  not  an  extensive,  term.  Christ  does 
not  mean,  "  to  thy  life's  end,"  contemplating  life 
under  the  aspect  of  time ;  but  "  to  the  sharpest 
and  worst  which  the  enemy  can  inflict  upon  thee, 
even  to  death  itself."     Dare  and  endure,  the  words 


II.  10.]  BMYENA,  EEV.  II.  8-11.  147 

would  say,  the  worst  which  evil  men  can  threaten 
and  inflict,  even  death  itself  (Matt.  x.  22  ;  xxiv.  13  ; 
Ecclus.  iv.  28).  Marcldus  :  "  Quam  exigit  [iideli- 
tatem]  usque  ad  mortem,  non  tarn  terminum  tem- 
poris  notans,  quanquam  et  ad  metas  nostra  iinem 
sit  perseverandum,  quam  quidem  gradum  mali,  in 
quo  fidelitas  nostra  demonstranda  est,  ut  mortem 
ipsam  in  causa  fidei  et  pietatis  subire  non  detracte- 
mus."  For  the  words  of  the  promise  which  follow, 
"  and  I  ivill  give  thee  a  crovm  of  life"  compare 
2  Esdr.  ii.  42-47,  which,  however,  it  can  hardly  be 
doubted  is  the  interpolation  of  some  later  Christian 
hand  (see  Liicke,  Offenb.  d.  Johan.  p.  155,  2d  edit.). 
This  "  crown  of  life"  always  remaining  essen- 
tially the  same,  is  not  the  less  designated  by  a  rich 
variety  of  images.  Here,  and  with  St.  James  (i.  12), 
it  is  "  a  crown  of 'life  /"  with  St.  Paul,  "a  crown 
of  righteousness  "  (2  Tim.  iv.  8  ;  cf.  Plutarch,  Philop. 
et  Flam.  3  :  haccuoavvris  /cal  ^priaroTrjToq  aTecpavos)  ; 
with  St.  Peter,  "  a  crown  of  glory  "  (1  Ep.  v.  4) ; 
with  Isaiah,  "  a  crown  of  beauty  "  (Hi.  3,  <TTe<f>avos 
fcdWovs,  LXX.  ;  with  which  compare  BcdBy/jia  rov 
kclWovs,  Wisd.  v.  17) ;  in  the  Mart.  S.  Poly  car pi^ 
u  a  crown  of  incorruption  "  (d^dapata^,  xvii.  1 9  ; 
cf.  Eusebius,  H.  E.  v.  1  ;  fiiyas  t?}?  dfyOapalas  crri- 
cpavos) ;  with  Ignatius,  "  a  crown  of  conflict "  (d$- 
Xtfaem,  Hart.  5,  with  probable  reference  to  2  Tim. 
ii.  5).     Whether  Lucian  intended   a  sneer  at  these 


14S         EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.     [II.  10. 

glorious  promises  of  the  Scripture,  when  he  intro- 
duces the  impostor  Peregrinus,  who  had  been 
among  the  Christians,  though  he  died  a  Cynic,  to 
declare  his  intention  of  adding,  by  a  voluntary 
death,  a  golden  crown  to  a  golden  life  (xpvcra)  f3lw 
Xpvarjv  Kopoovrjv  eTn&elvai,  De  Mort.  Pereg.  §  33), 
may  be  questionable.  That  he  has  many  such 
scoffs  at  the  promises  of  Scripture,  as  at  its  miracles 
and  other  facts,  no  one  who  has  at  all  studied  the 
matter  will  be  disposed  to  deny. 

One  may  pause  to  consider  here,  Is  this  crown 
the  diadem  of  royalty,  or  the  garland  of  victory, 
"  Krone  "  or  "  Ivranz  "  ?  I  believe  the  former.  It  is 
quite  true  that  aTefavos  is  seldom  used  in  this  sense, 
much  oftener  &cd§r)fjLa  (see  my  Synonyms  of  the  New 
Testament,  §  23) ;  yet  the  "  golden  crowns  "  (o-re- 
cjyavoc)  of  chapter  v.  can  only  be  royal  crowns  (cf. 
ver.  10) ;  cnefyavos  too  is  the  word  which  all  the 
Evangelists  employ  of  the  crown  of  thorns,  evident- 
ly a  caricature  of  royalty,  which  was  planted  on  the 
Saviour's  brows.  Did  we  indeed  meet  these  words 
"a  crown  of  life"  in  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  we 
should  be  justified  in  saying  that  in  all  probability 
the  wreath  or  garland  of  the  victor  in  the  games, 
the  "  crown  "  in  this  sense  was  intended.  St.  Paul 
was  familiar  with  the  Greek  games,  and  freely  drew 
his  imagery  from  them  (1  Cor.  vii.  24-27  ;  Phil.  iii. 
12;  1  Tim.  vi.  12);  does  not  fear  to  contemplate 


II.  10.]  8MYKXA,  EEV.  II.  8-11.  149 

the  faithful  under  the  aspect  of  runners  (SeoSpo/xoL, 
as  Ignatius,  ad  Philad.  c.  ii.,  calls  them)  and  wrest- 
lers in  the  games.  His  universal,  Hellenic  as  well 
as  Jewish,  education,  exempted  him  from  any  scru- 
ples upon  this  point.  Not  so,  however,  the  Chris- 
tians of  Palestine.  These  Greek  games  were  strange 
to  them,  or  only  not  strange,  as  they  were  the  objects 
of  their  deepest  abhorrence  ;  as  witness  the  tumults 
and  troubles  which  accompanied  the  first  introduc- 
tion of  them  by  Herod  the  Great  at  Jerusalem, 
recorded  at  length  by  Josephus  (Antt.  xv.  8.  1-4). 
Tertullian's  point  of  view,  who  styles  them  (Scorp. 
6)  "  contentiosa  solemnia  et  superstitiosa  certamina 
Grsecarum  et  religionum  et  voluptatum,"  would 
very  much  have  been  theirs.  And  then,  to  me  at 
least,  decisive  on  this  point  is  the  fact,  that  nowhere 
else  in  the  Apocalypse  is  there  found  a  single  image 
drawn  from  the  range  of  heathen  antiquity.  The 
Book  moves  exclusively  in  the  circle  of  Jewish 
imagery — either  sacred  or  cabalistic ;  derived  in 
largest  part  from  the  depths  of  the  temple  service. 
The  palms  in  the  hands  of  those  who  stand  before 
the  throne  (vii.  9)  may  seem  an  exception  to  the 
universality  of  this  rule  ;  but  really  are  far  from  so 
being.  It  is  quite  true  that  the  palm  was  for  Greek 
and  Koman  a  token  of  victory,  but  this  "  palmi- 
ferens  company,"  to  use  Henry  More's  words,  these 
happy  palmers,  do  not  stand  before  the  throne  as 


150        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCHES  IN  ASIA.     [II.  11. 

conquerors, — Tertullian's  exposition,  "  albati  et  pal- 
mis  victorice  insignes  "  (Scorp.  12.),  being  at  fault, — 
but  as  those  who  keep  the  true  feast  of  tabernacles, 
the  feast  of  rest,  of  all  the  weary  toil  in  the  wilder- 
ness accomplished  and  ended ;  and  as  such,  and  to 
mark  them  for  what  they  are,  they  bear,  according 
to  the  injunctions  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  branches 
of  palms  in  their  hands  (Lev.  xxiii.  40 ;  cf.  Neh. 
viii.  15  ;  2  Mace.  x.  7 ;  John  xii.  13 ;  Josephus, 
Antt.  xiii.  13.  5)  ;  see  some  beautiful  remarks  on 
this  point  in  Hengstenberg,  in  part  anticipated  by 
Vitringa.  I  must  needs  then  believe,  that  these  are 
royal  crowns,  not  victorious  garlands,  which  the 
Lord  is  promising  here. 

Yer.  11.  "  lie  that  hath  an  ear  to  hear,  let  him 
hear  what  the  Sjririt  saith  unto  the  Churches  /  lie 
that  overcometh  shall  not  be  hurt  of  the  second  death." 
— This  "  second  death"  setting  forth  the  "  vita  non 
vi  talis,"  the  death  in  life  of  the  lost,  as  contrasted 
with  the  life  in  death  of  the  saved,  is  a  phrase  pecu- 
liar to  the  Apocalypse  (cf.  xx.  6,  14 ;  xxi.  8) ;  but 
is  not  uncommon  in  the  later  Jewish  theology ;  in- 
deed frequent  in  the  Chaldee  Paraphrase.  Yitrin- 
ga  :  "  Phrasis  nata  hand  dubie  in  schohi  sanctorum 
virorum  qui  fidem  et  spem  Ecclesiae  post  reditmn 
ex  exilio  Babylonico  explicarunt."  But  though  the 
word  is  not  on  the  lips  of  the  Lord  during  his  earth- 
ly life,  lie  does  not  shrink  from  proclaiming  the 


II.  11.]  SMYRNA,   EEV.  IL  8-11.  151 

fearful  thing.  The  Sevrepos  Savaros  of  this  Book  is 
the  yiewa  of  Matt.  v.  29  ;  Mark  ix.  43-49  ;  Luke 
xii.  5.  The  phrase  is  itself  a  solemn  witness  against 
the  Sadduceeism  and  Epicureanism,  which  would 
make  the  natural  death  the  be-all  and  end-all  of 
existence.  As  there  is  a  life  beyond  this  present 
life  for  the  faithful,  so  a  death  beyond  the  death 
which  falls  under  our  eye  for  the  wicked.  "  Yita 
damnatorum  mors  est,"  is  the  fearful  gloss  of  Augus- 
tine on  these  words.1 

So  much  has  been  idly  written  upon  names,  not  a 
little  most  idly  on  the  names  of  these  seven  Church- 
es, and  the  mystical  meanings  which  they  contain, 
that  one  shrinks  from  any  seeming  fellowship  in 
such  foolish  and  unprofitable  fancies  ;  and  yet  it  is 
difficult  not  to  remember  here  that  crfjivpva,,  the 
name  of  this  suffering  Church  which  should  give 
out  its  sweetness  in  persecution  and  in  death,  is  a 
subform  of  fivppa  (Lobeck,  Pathol,  p.  241) ;  and 
that  myrrh,  an  aromatic  gum  of  Arabia,  served  for 
embalming  the  dead  (John  xix.  39  ;  cf.  Herodotus, 

1  Philo  too,  though  he  does  not  know  this  phrase,  "  the  second 
death,"  has  a  terrible  commentary  upon  it  {De  Prcem.  et  Pcen.  12): 
avOpwiroi  fjikv  yap  irepas  rifxaipi&v  elvai  vofxi^ovai  Qdvarov  •  iv  5e  t<£ 
Oelcp  SiKaa'rrjpiq)  /xSyis  icrrlv  ovtos  apxh-  And  going  on  to  ask  what 
is  the  punishment  of  the  ungodly,  he  answers,  (rjv  airoQvi]crKovTa  ael, 
Ka\  rp6irov  riva  Qdvarov  aQdvarov  viro/j.4v€iv  Kal  aTeAzvTrjTOv,  with 
more  which  I  cannot  quote. 


152        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.     [II.  11. 

ii.  40,  86),  went  up  as  incense  before  the  Lord 
(Exod.  xxx.  23),  was  one  of  the  perfumes  of  the 
bridegroom  (Ps.  xlv.  8),  and  of  the  bride  (Cant.  iii. 
6) ;  all  which  Yitringa  has  excellently  urged : 
"  Myrrha  itaque  nobis  hie  symbolice  figurat  gravio- 
res  Ecclesiss  afflictiones,  amaras  equidem  et  ingra- 
tas  carni,  Trpos  to  7rapov,  quod  ad  tempus  prsesens, 
sed  ex  qnibus  fructus  provenit  vere  salutaris.  Solet 
enim  eas  Deus  sua  providentia  Ecclesise  immittere, 
ut  electos  et  electorum  fid  em  prseservet  a  co?rrup- 
tione,  et  illos  hoc  etiam  medio  veluti  condiat  ad  im- 
mortalitatem,  et  fragrantiam  iis  conciliet  egregiam 
yirtutum  Christianarum,  quarum  exercitium  perse- 
cutiones  Ecclesise  solent  suscitare." 


III. 
EPISTLE  TO  THE  CHURCH  OF  PERGAMUM. 

Kev.  ii.  12-17. 


Yer.  12.  "  And  to  the  Angel  of  the  Church  in 
Pergamos  write." — A  word  or  two  may  fitly  find 
place  here  on  the  name  of  this  city,  as  it  appears  in 
our  Authorized  Yersion.  In  the  first  place,  why  do 
our  Translators,  writing  "Pergamos"  and  not 
"  Pergamus"  retain  a  Greek  termination  for  it,  and 
for  it  alone  ?  '  Assos '  (Acts  xx.  13, 14)  is  not  a  par- 
allel case,  for  the  Eomans  wrote  c  Assos'  as  frequent- 
ly as  '  Assus  ;'  and  always  <  Chios,'  which  therefore 
is  quite  correct  (Acts  xx.  15).  But  if  i  Pergamos] 
then,  by  the  same  rule,  <  Ephesos,'  <  Miletos,'  and 
many  more.  And  even  against '  PergamusJ  though 
more  correct  than  <  Pergamos]  there  would  still  be 
something  to  object.  Instances  of  the  feminine, 
rj  mpyafios  (Ptolemy,  i.  2),  are  excessively  rare  (see 
Lobeck,  Phrynichus,  p.  422) ;  while  the  neuter,  to 
Ilipya/iov  in  Greek,  and  '  Pergamum '  in  Latin,  oc- 


154        EPISTLES  TO  THE   SEVEN  CHUKCHES  IN  ASIA.      [II.  13. 

curs  innumerable  times  (Xenophon,  Andb.  vii.  8. 
8  ;  Polybius,  iv.  48.  2  ;  Strabo,  xiii.  4 ;  Pliny,  H.  N. 
v.  33).  I  shall  speak  throughout  of  the  city  under 
this  its  more  usual  designation.  It  was  another  il- 
lustrious city  of  Asia  ;  kin^avi^  irokis  Strabo  calls 
it  (xiii.  4) ;  "  longe  clarissimum  Asioe  Pergamum," 
Pliny  (II.  N.  v.  33).  Although  of  high  antiquity, 
its  greatness,  splendour,  and  importance  did  not  date 
very  far  back.  It  only  attained  these  under  the 
successors  of  Alexander.  One  of  these  made  Per- 
gamum the  capital  of  his  kingdom — the  same  king- 
dom which  a  later  of  his  dynasty,  Attalus  the  Sec- 
ond, bequeathed  to  the  Eomans.  It  was  famous  for 
its  vast  library  ;  for  splendid  temples  of  Zeus,  of 
Athene,  and  of  Apollo  ;  but  most  of  all  for  the  wor- 
ship of  ^Esculapius  (Tacitus,  Annal.  iii.  63  ;  Xeno- 
phon, Andb.  vii.  8.  23),  the  remains  of  whose  mag- 
nificent temple  outside  the  city  still  remain.        , 

"  These  things  saith  lie  which  hath  the  sharp 
sword  with  two  edges." — Compare  i.  16. 

Yer.  13.  "I  know  thy  ivories,  and  where  thou 
dwellest,  even  where  Satan's  seat  is."- — This  may  not 
sound,  at  the  first  hearing,  a  reassuring  word  ;  and 
yet  indeed  it  is  eminently  such.  None  of  the  pecu- 
liar difficulties  and  dangers  which  beset  the  Church 
at  Pergamum  are  concealed  from  Christ.  We  indeed 
ask  now,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  give  a  satisfactory 
answer  to   the   question,  Why  should    Pergamum 


II.  13.]  PERGAMUM,  REV.  1L  12-17.  155 

more  than  any  other  corrupt  heathen  city  have  been 
"  Satan's  seat"  or  "  Satan's  throne  /"  for  as  dpovos 
is  constantly  in  this  Book  translated  "  throne  "  when 
applied  to  the  powers  of  heaven,  it  should  be  so 
also  when  applied  to  the  hellish  caricature  of  the 
heavenly  kingdom ;  to  the  kingdom  which  the 
rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world  seek  to  set  up 
over  against  the  kingdom  of  light.  The  question 
has  been  variously  answered.  Some  have  supposed 
that  allusion  is  here  to  the  fane  of  JEsculapius, 
@eo?  Scorrfp  he  was  called,  where  lying  miracles  of 
healing  were  vaunted  to  be  performed,  Satan  seek- 
ing by  the  aid  of  these  to  counterwork  the  work  of 
the  Gospel.  The  explanation  is  quite  insufficient. 
All  which  we  can  securely  conclude  from  this  lan- 
guage is,  that  from  one  cause  or  another,  these 
causes  being  now  unknown,  Pergamum  enjoyed  the 
bad  preeminence  of  being  the  head-quarters  in 
these  parts  of  the  opposition  to  Christ  and  his  Gos- 
pel. Why  it  should  have  thus  deserved  the  name 
of  "  Satan's  throne"  so  emphatically  repeated  a  sec- 
ond time  at  the  end  of  this  verse,  "  where  Satan 
dwelleth"  must  remain  one  of  the  unsolved  riddles 
of  these  Epistles.  Some  circumstances,  of  which  no 
historical  notice  has  reached  us,  may  have  especially 
stirred  up  the  fanaticism  of  the  heathen  there. 

"  And  thou  holdestfast  my  name,  and  hast  not 
denied  my  faith,  even  in  those  days  wherein  Anti- 


150        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.      [IE  13. 

pas  ivas  my  faithful  martyr,  who  was  slain  among 
you,  where  Satan  dwellethP — There  is  a  multitude 
of  small  variations  of  reading  here,  though  none 
seriously  affecting  the  sense.  There  was  probably 
an  anacoluthon  in  the  sentence  originally,  which 
transcribers  would  not  let  be ;  but  tried  by  various 
devices  to  palliate  or  remove.  It  is  evident  from 
the  testimony  borne  here  to  the  Pergamene  Church, 
that  many  there,  probably  the  Angel  himself,  had 
shown  an  honourable  steadfastness  in  the  faith ;  had 
been  confessors  of  it ;  though  possibly  only  one, 
Antipas,  had  resisted,  or  had  been  called  to  resist, 
unto  blood.  Eusebius  (II.  E.  iv.  15)  records  seve- 
ral martyrs  who  at  a  somewhat  later  day  were  at 
Pergamum  faithful  to  death,  and  received  a  crown 
of  life.  Attalus  also,  it  may  be  mentioned,  who 
did  so  valiantly  in  the  persecutions  of  Lyons  and 
Yienne,  and  won  a  foremost  place  in  that  noble 
company  of  martyrs,  was  a  Pergamene  (lb.  v.  1, 14, 
38,  4Y). 

Of  Antipas,  except  from  the  glorious  record 
which  the  Lord  bears  to  him  here,  we  know  abso- 
lutely nothing.  It  is  difficult  to  understand  the 
silence  of  all  ecclesiastical  history  respecting  so 
famous  a  martyr,  one  singled  out  by  Christ  to  such 
honour  as  this ;  for  silent  in  regard  of  him  ecclesias- 
tical history  must  be  confessed  to  be ;  that  which 
Tertullian  (Scorp.  12)  and  other  early  writers  tell  us 


II.  13.]  PEKGAMUM,  EEV.  IE  12-17.  157 

about  him,  being  merely  devised  infugam  vacui, 
and  manifestly  drawn  from  the  passage  before  ns. 
They  Jcnow  nothing  about  him  except  what  they 
find  here.  Later  Latin  martyrologies,  of  course, 
know  a  great  deal ;  according  to  these  he  was  bish- 
op of  Pergamum,  and  by  command  of  Domitian 
was  shut  up,  Perillus-like,  in  a  brazen  bull,  after- 
wards made  red-hot ;  this  being  his  passage  to  life. 
Hengstenberg  has  a  curious  explanation  of  this 
name,  though  it  is  not  perfectly  original ;  he  has 
derived  at  least  the  hint  of  it  from  Aretius.  Press- 
ing the  fact  that  almost  all  other  names,  he  would 
say  all,  are  symbolic  in  this  Book,  as  Jezebel,  Ba- 
laam, Egypt,  Sodom,  he  urges  that  this  must  be 
symbolic  too.  But  \4zm7ra?,  what  is  it  but  a  word 
formed  on  the  same  model  as  ''AvrixpKJTos  ;  and  as 
this  is  made  up  of  avrl  and  Xpio-ros,  so  ^Avrlira^  of 
avTL  and  7ra?,  and  Antipas  is  one  who  for  Christ's 
sake  has  dared  to  stand  out  against  all,  an  avrUocr- 
^o? ;  cf.  Jer.  xx.  10 ;  xv.  10,  "Woe  is  me,  my 
mother,  that  thou  hast  borne  me  a  man  of  strife  and 
a  man  of  contention  to  the  whole  earth"  which  must 
be  the  character  and  condition  of  an  eminently 
godly  man  set  in  the  midst  of  a  world  which  lieth 
in  the  wicked  one  (Jam.  iv.  4 ;  Acts  iv.  19  ;  v.  29). 
A  later  commentator  contemptuously  dismisses  this 
with  the  observation  that  ^Avrlira^  is  only  an  abbre- 
viation of  'AvTLTraTpos,  as   NifcofAa?  of  NitcofirjSrjs, 


158        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.     [II.  14. 

Mrjva?  of  MnvoScopos,  and  the  like.  I  am  certainly  not 
disposed  to  rate  this  higher  than  an  ingenious  fancy, 
a  lusus  of  the  critic's  art,  but  see  little  or  no  force 
in  this  argument  against  it.  Antipas,  once  formed, 
enters  into  all  the  rights  which  its  new  form  confers 
upon  it,  irrespective  of  the  process  by  which  it  may 
have  attained  this  form.  But  it  is  not  worth  while 
to  vindicate  from  a  bad  objection  that  which  will 
not  commend  itself  a  whit  the  more,  even  after  this 
objection  is  set  aside. 

Yer.  14.  "  But  I have  a  few  things  against  thee, 
because  thou  hast  there  them  that  hold  the  doctrine 
of  Balaam,  who  taught  Balac  to  cast  a  stumbling- 
bloclc  before  the  children  of  Israel,  to  eat  things 
sacrificed  unto  idols,  and  to  commit  fomicationP 
— Those  "  that  hold  the  doctrine  of  Balaam"  are,  I 
am  persuaded,  identical  with  the  Nicolaitans  of  ver. 
G,  15  ;  indeed  the  latter  verse  seems  to  leave  no 
doubt  on  the  matter.  The  mention  of  him  as  the 
tempter  and  seducer  would  of  itself  sufficiently  ex- 
plain what  was  the  nature  of  the  sins  to  which  he 
tempted  and  seduced  (Num.  xxv.  1-9  ;  xxxi.  15, 16) ; 
but  the  sins  are  hero  expressly  named.  First,  how- 
ever, something  may  be  said  on  the  words  o?  i&lSacrfce 
t(q  BaXd/c,  which  we,  and  I  believe  rightly,  have 
rendered,  "  who  taught  Bcdac."  Ilengstenberg  in- 
deed, and  Bengel  before  him,  on  the  strength  of 
this  dative,  a  dativus  commodi  as  they  regard  it, 


II.  14]  PEEGAMUM,  EEV.  II.  12-17.  150 

united  with  the  fact  that  SoBdo-fcew  habitually  gov- 
erns an  accusative  of  the  person  who  is  the  object  of 
the  teaching  (thus  ver.  20  in  this  very  chapter),  have 
urged  that  we  ought  to  translate  a  who  taught  for 
Balac"  that  is,  in  the  interests  of  Balac,  to  please 
him ;  and,  in  confirmation  of  this,  they  press  that 
there  is  no  hint  in  Scripture  of  Balaam  having  sug- 
gested to  Balac  to  put  these  temptations  in  the  way 
of  the  children  of  Israel ;  the  parting  of  the  two  is 
recorded  Num.  xxiv.  25,  nor  is  there  any  reason, 
they  say,  to  suppose  that  they  ever  met  again ;  it 
was  to  the  Moabitish  women  themselves,  to  Balac's 
people,  but  not  to  Balac  himself,  that  Balaam  sug- 
gested the  placing  these  stumbling-blocks  in  their 
way.  I  am  persuaded  that  this  is  a  mistake.  The 
construction  proposed  is  much  too  artificial  for  the 
Apocalypse  ;  the  dative  after  SiSdo-fceiv  is  the  pene- 
trating of  a  Hebrew  idiom  through  the  forms  of  the 
Greek  language ;  and  there  is  nothing  at  Num. 
xxxi.  16  to  compel  us  to  understand  that  Balaam's 
communication  with  the  daughters  of  Moab  was  im- 
mediate, and  not  through  the  intermediation  of  the 
king.  Thus  see  Josephus,  Antt.  iv.  6.  6,  who  as- 
sumes this  last  to  have  certainly  been  the  case ;  and 
cf.  Yitringa,  Olss.  Sac.  1.  iv.  c.  ix.  §  29. 

There  are  two  words  which  claim  here  special 
consideration,  crtcavhaXov  and  elhcSkoOvrov.  Xk&v- 
Sdkovy  a  later  form  of  atcavbakrjOpov  (Aristophanes, 


160        EPISTLES  TO   THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.     [II.  14. 

Achaman.  686),  and  cr/cavSaXlfo  (there  is  no  cricav- 
BaXrjOpl^co,  see  Host  unci  JPalm),  occur  only,  I  be- 
lieve, in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  the  Septuagint  and 
the  New  Testament,  and  in  such  writings  as  are  im- 
mediately dependant  upon  these  (see  Suicer,  s.  v.)  ; 
being  almost  always  in  them  employed  in  a  tropical 
sense ;  Judith  v.  1 ;  Lev.  xxix.  14  are  exceptions. 
XicdvhaXov  is  properly  a  trap  (joined  often  with 
7rayfc,  Josh,  xxiii.  13  ;  Ps.  cxl.  9  ;  Eom.  xi.  9),  or 
more  precisely  that  part  of  the  trap  on  which  the 
bait  was  laid,  and  the  touching  of  which  caused  the 
trap  to  close  upon  its  prey ;  then  generally  any  loop 
or  noose  set  in  the  path,  which  should  entangle  the 
foot  of  the  unwary  walker  and  cause  him  to  stumble 
and  fall ;  (T/cdvSa\ov=7rp6crfcofjLiJLa  (Rom.  xiv.  13)  and 
GKavhaXl^eiv^irpoo-KoirTeiv  (Matt.  iv.  6  ;  Rom.  ix. 
32) ;  and  next  any  stone,  or  hindrance  of  any  kind 
(Hesychius  explains  it  by  e/i-Tro&cryitcs),  which  should 
have  the  same  effect  (1  Pet.  ii.  7).  Satan,  then,  as 
the  Tempter  is  the  great  placer  of  "scandals," 
"  stumbling-blocks,"  or  "  offences,"  in  the  path  of 
men  ;  his  sworn  servants,  a  Balaam  or  a  Jeroboam 
(1  Kin.  xiv.  16),  are  the  same  consciously.  All  of 
us  unconsciously,  by  careless  walking,  by  seeking 
what  shall  please  ourselves  rather  than  edify  others 
(1  Cor.  viii.  10),  are  in  danger  of  being  the  same ; 
all  are  deeply  concerned  with  the  warning  of  Matt. 
xviii.  7. 


II.  14.]  PEEGAMUM,  EEV.  II.  12-17.  161 

EIS(o\60vtov  is  a  "New  Testament  word  to  express 
what  the  heathen  sacrifices  were,  as  they  presented 
themselves  to  the  eye  of  a  Christian  or  a  Jew,  name- 
ly things  offered  to  idols.1  The  Gentiles  themselves 
expressed  the  same  by  lepodvrov  (which  word  oc- 
curs 1  Cor.  x.  28,  according  to  the  better  reading, 
St.  Paul  there  assuming  a  Gentile  to  be  speaking, 
and  using,  if  not  an  honourable,  yet  at  any  rate  a 
neutral  word),  or  by  deodvrov,  which  the  Greek 
purists  preferred  (Lobeck,  Plirynichus,  p.  139).  It 
will  be  worth  while  here  to  consider  under  what 
plea  any  who  even  named  the  name  of  Christ  could 
consent  to  eat  of  these  idol-meats,  and  yet  claim  to 
retain  allegiance  to  that  name.  "We  may  be  quite 
sure  that  as  many  of  the  stock  of  Abraham  as  joined 
themselves  to  the  Church  of  Christ  were  not  so 
much  as  tempted  to  this  sin  ;  their  whole  previous 
education,  all  that  they  had  learned  to  abhor  or  to 
hold  dear,  was  for  them  a  sufficient  safeguard  against 
it  (Num.  xxv.  2  ;  Ps.  cvi.  28  ;  Dan.  i.  8  ;  Tob.  i. 
10,  11).  It  was  otherwise  with  the  converts  from 
the  heathen  world;   with  the   Gentile  Christian, 

1  It  is  a  notable  example  of  the  extreme  inconsistency  of  our 
Version  in  rendering  the  same  word  in  different  places,  that  eldw\6~ 
dura  is  rendered  in  four  different  ways ;  it  is  "meats  offered  to  idols  " 
(Acts  xv.  29),  it  is  "things  offered  to  idols"  (Acts  xxi.  15),  it  is 
"things  that  are  offered  in  sacrifice  unto  idols"  (1  Cor.  viii.  4),  it  is 
"things  sacrificed  unto  idols"  (Rev.  ii.  14). 


102        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUBCIIES   IN  ASIA.     [II.  14. 

gathered  in,  it  may  be,  to  the  Church  of  Christ  out 
of  some  corrupt  Greek  city.  Refusal  to  partakp  in 
the  idol-meats  was  for  him  refusal  to  partake,  not 
merely  in  the  idolatry  which  he  had  renounced,  but 
in  very  much  else  which  he  was  not  at  all  so  well 
prepared  to  renounce ;  it  involved  abstinence  from 
almost  every  public,  every  private  festivity,  a  with- 
drawal in  great  part  from  the  whole  social  life  of 
his  time ;  for  sacrifice  had  bound  itself  up  in  almost 
every  act  of  this  social  life.  We  have  a  singular 
evidence  of  this  in  the  fact  that  "  to  kill "  and  "  to 
sacrifice "  had  in  Greek  almost  become  identical ; 
Ovecv,  which  had  originally  meant  the  latter,  mean- 
ing the  former  now.  The  poor,  offering  a  slain 
beast,  after  the  priest  and  the  altar  had  received 
their  shares,  would  sell  the  remainder  in  the  mar- 
ket ;  the  rich  would  give  this  which  remained  over 
away.  From  one  cause  or  another,  there  was  a 
certainty  at  many  entertainments  of  meeting  these 
sacrificial  meats,  there  was  a  possibility  of  meeting 
them  at  all.  The  question  therefore  was  one  which, 
like  that  of  caste  at  the  present  day  in  India,  would 
continually  obtrude  itself,  which  could  not  be  set 
aside.1 

Already  we  find  at  the  Council  of  Jerusalem 

1  Sec  an  excellent  Essay  on  this  subject  in  Stanley's  Commentary 
on  lite  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  with  this  title,  The  sacrificial 
feasts  of  the  heathen,  vol.  i.  pp.  149-152. 


II.  14.]  PEKGAMUM,  KEV.  IL  12-17.  163 

the  Apostles  resolving  that  among  the  few  "  neces- 
sary things  "  (Acts  xv.  28)  which  must  be  abso- 
lutely demanded  of  the  Gentile  converts,  abstinence 
from  "  the  pollutions  of  idols  "  (ver.  20),  or,  as  in 
the  more  formal  decree  it  is  expressed,  "  meats  of- 
fered to  idols  "  (ver.  29),  was  one.  Some  two  years 
later  various  cases  of  conscience  have  occurred  ex- 
actly in  that  Church  where  beforehand  we  might 
have  looked  for  them,  namely  at  Corinth,  and  St. 
Paul  has  been  called  upon  to  settle  them.  Some 
it  would  seem  there,  who  boasted  of  their  yvcocrc?, 
affirmed  that  they  saw  through  the  whole  heathen 
idolatry  that  it  was  a  fraud  and  a  lie  ;  to  them  an 
idol  was  nothing  ;  what  fear  then  that  they  should 
become  partakers  with  the  idol  through  partaking 
of  the  idol  meats  ?  and  these,  in  the  assertion  of 
their  liberty,  sat  openly  at  meat  in  the  very  idol 
temple  itself  (1  Cor.  viii.  10).  So  too  at  a  somewhat 
later  date,  in  Justin  Martyr's  Dialogue  with  Try- 
pho,  the  Jew  Trypho  makes  it  a  charge  against  the 
Christians  that  many  of  them  partook  of  idol  sacri- 
fices, affirming  that  they  were  in  no  way  injured 
by  them  (c.  35) ;  to  whom  the  Christian  Father 
replies  that1  these  Marcionites,  Yalentinians,  and 
the  rest,  usurped  the  name  of  Christ,  but  that  the 
Catholic  Church  repudiated  them  utterly,  in  no 
way  acknowledged  them  for  children  of  hers. 
From  Irenseus  (i.  6.  3)  we  learn  that  they  not 


164:        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.     [IL  15. 

merely  thus  ate  of  the  idol  meats,  boasting  that 
they  were  not  defiled  by  them,  but  toot  a  foremost 
share  in  the  celebration  of  the  heathen  festivals. 
Others,  in  an  opposite  extreme  and  excess  of  scru- 
pulosity, were  exceedingly  troubled  lest  the  meat 
they  innocently  bought  in  the  market,  or  partook 
of  at  the  house  of  a  heathen  friend,  might  not  have 
been  offered  in  sacrifice,  and  so  they  unknowingly 
defiled  (1  Cor.  x.  25,  27).  All  will  no  doubt  re- 
member the  wonderful  wisdom  and  love  with  which 
St.  Paul  deals  with  these  various  cases,  strengthen- 
ing and  guiding  the  weak,  rebuking  and  restraining 
the  proud.  Some,  however,  of  these  latter  contin- 
ued to  allow  themselves  in  these  dangerous  liberties, 
degenerating  easily  into  scandalous  excesses ;  al- 
though, after  such  decisions,  first  of  the  Council  at 
Jerusalem,  and  afterwards  of  St.  Paul,  not  any 
longer  within  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  but 
without  it ;  and  one  may  see  in  the  Nicolaitans 
the  legitimate  spiritual  descendants  of  those  Gnos- 
tics (Gnostics  at  least  in  the  bud)  who  were  not 
brought  back  to  humbler,  more  loving,  more  self- 
denying  courses  by  the  earnest  remonstrances  of 
St.  Paul. 

Yer.  15.  "  So  hast  thou  also  them  that  hold  the 
doctrine  of  the  Nicolaitans,  which  thing  I  hate P — 
As  Balac  had  Balaam,  a  false  prophet  and  seducer, 
"  so  hast  thou  also"  wanting  that  earnest  hatred  of 


II.  16.]  PERGAMUH,  REV.  II.  12-17.  165 

evil  which  would  make  such  a  presence  and  such  a 
teaching  intolerable  to  thee,  "  them  that  hold  the 
doctrine  of  the  Nicolaitans ;  "  and  then  Christ 
adds,  "  which  thing  I  hate"  reminding  him  how 
ill  it  became  him  not  to  hate  that  which  was  hated 
of  his  Lord.  In  this  matter  at  least  the  Angel  of 
Ephesus  had  more  of  the  mind  of  Christ  than  he 
had  (ver.  6).  What  Christ  hated,  that  Angel 
hated  too. 

Yer.  16.  "Repent;  or  else  I  will  come  unto 
thee  quickly,  and  will  fight  against  them  with  the 
sword  of  my  mouthy — Out  of  this  feebleness  of 
moral  indignation  against  evil  it  had  come  to  pass 
that  the  Angel  had  not  testified  with  sufficient  en- 
ergy against  the  Nicolaitans  and  their  doctrine  ;  he 
could  not  say  with  Paul,  "  I  am  pure  from  the 
blood  of  all  men  "  (Acts  xx.  26).  But  now  repent- 
ing and  faithfully  witnessing  against  their  errors, 
he  would  either  recover  them  for  the  truth,  or  else 
drive  them  wholly  from  the  communion  of  the 
Church — in  either  case  a  gain.  If  he  do  not  re- 
pent, the  Lord  will  come  quickly,  and  fight  against 
him  and  them  with  the  sword  of  his  mouth.  We 
have,  I  am  persuaded,  another  allusion  here  to  the 
history  of  Balaam,  namely  to  Num.  xxxi.  8  (cf. 
Josh.  xiii.  22) :  "  Balaam  also,  the  son  of  Beor,  they 
slew  with  the  sword  ;  "  this  sword  of  the  children 
of  Israel  being  indeed  the  sword  of  God  ;  cf.  Num. 


166        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.     [II.  16. 

xxii.  31.  Yitringa  :  "  Yerba  hsec  manifeste  respi- 
cmnt  historiam  Bileami :  in  qua  habemus,  primo 
quid  em,  Angelum  Domini  stricto  ense  se  Bileamo, 
populo  Dei  maledicere  meditanti,  in  via  opposuisse, 
et,  si  in  instituto  perseveraret,  exitium  illi  minatum 
esse  ;  deinde  Bileamum,  et  Israelitas  qui  consilium 
illius  secuti  fuerant,  jussu  Dei  gladio  periisse." 

In  that,  "  /  will  fight  against  them"  it  might 
seem  at  first  sight  as  if  there  was  only  a  threat  for 
these  ungodly  -workers  ;  and  not  for  the  Angel 
who  had  been  faithful  in  the  main,  nor  for  the 
better  portion  of  the  Church.  But  it  is  not  so. 
When  God  has  a  controversy  with  a  Church  or 
with  a  people,  the  tribulation  reaches  all,  though 
the  judgment  is  only  for  his  foes.  The  gold  and 
the  dross  are  cast  alike  into  the  fire,  though  it  is 
only  the  dross  that  is  consumed  therein.  The  holy 
prophet  is  entangled  outwardly  in  the  same  doom 
with  the  ungodly  king  (Jer.  xxxix.  4 ;  xliii.  6  ; 
Matt.  xxiv.  20,  21).  There  may  be,  there  assuredly 
will  be,  on  the  part  of  the  faithful,  a  separation 
from  the  sin — there  is  seldom  a  separation  from  the 
suffering — of  such  a  time.  This  suffering  is  for  all. 
It  is  well  tli at  it  should  be  so  ;  that  there  should  be 
nothing  in  the  usual  course  of  God^  judgments  to 
flatter  the  selfish  hope  of  avoiding  a  share  in  the 
woe.  .  Enough  for  any  to   escape  the  woe  within 


II.  17.J  PEEGAMUM,   EEY.  II.   12-17.  167 

the  woe,  namely,  the  sense  of  this  suffering  as  the 
utterance  of  the  extreme  displeasure  of  God. 

Yer.  IT.  "  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear 
ivhat  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  Churches  /  To  him 
that  overcometh  will  I  give  to  eat  of  the  hidden 
manna" — There  can,  I  think,  be  no  doubt  that  al- 
lusion is  here  to  the  manna  which  at  God's  express 
command  Moses  caused  to  be  laid  up  before  the 
Lord  in  the  Sanctuary  (Exod.  xvi.  32-34 ;  cf.  Heb. 
ix.  4).  This  manna,  as  being  thus  laid  up  in  the 
Holy  Place,  obtained  the  name  of  "  hidden"  "  oc- 
cultatum,"  or  "  reconditum,"  as  Cocceius  presses 
that  it  should  be  rendered,  not  "  occultum  ;  "  for  it 
is  not  tcpvTTTov  in  the  original,  but  /ce/cpufi/jLevov  ;  not 
therefore  "  latens  manna "  as  in  Tertullian,  but 
"  absconditum  "  as  in  the  Yulgate.  It  is  true  that 
many  commentators,  as  ITengstenberg,  omit  any 
reference  to  this,  and  some  expressly  deny  that 
there  is  any  such ;  but  Yitringa  rightly :  "  Ducit 
autem  phrasis  nos  manifeste  ad  cogitandum  de 
manna  illo,  quod  ex  jussu  Dei  in  urna  reponendum 
erat  in  sacratissimo  Tabernaculi  conclavi,  per  di- 
vinam  providentiam  ab  omni  corruptione  prseserv- 
andum  ;  .  .  .  .  quod  manna  vere  symbolum  fait 
Christi  virtute  obediential  suse  in  ccelum  translati, 
et  ibi  delitescentis,  usque  quo  Ecclesia  ipsius  luc- 
tam  suam  in  his  terris  absolverit."  The  question, 
what  we  shall  exactly  understand  by  this  "  hidden 


168        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.      [II.  17. 

manna"  and  the  eating  of  it,  lias  not  always  been 
answered  with  precision.  Origen  very  character- 
istically understands  by  it  the  inner  mystical  sense 
of  Scripture  as  contrasted  with  the  outward  form 
and  letter  {Horn.  0  in  Mcod.)  :  "  Urna  mannse  re- 
posita,  intellectus  Yerbi  Dei  subtilis  et  dulcis." 
For  the  Mystics  it  is  in  general  that  graciousness 
of  God  which  can  only  be  known  by  those  who 
have  themselves  actually  tasted  it ;  thus  one  of 
these :  "  Hujus  spirituals  et  occulti  mannaa  sapor 
latet  in  occulto,  nisi  gustando  sentiatur."  I  take 
it,  however,  that  this  "  hidden  manna  "  represents 
a  more  central  benefit  even  than  these  ;  moreover, 
like  all  the  other  promises  of  these  Epistles,  it  rep- 
resents a  benefit  pertaining  to  the  future  kingdom 
of  glory,  and  not  to  the  present  kingdom  of  grace. 
I  would  not  indeed  affirm  that  this  promise  has  not 
prelibations  which  will  be  tasted  in  the  present 
time ;  for  the  life  eternal  commences  on  this  side 
of  the  grave,  and  not  first  on  the  other  ;  and  here  in 
the  wilderness  Christ  is  the  bread  from  heaven,  the 
bread  of  God,  the  true  manna,  of  which  those  that 
eat  shall  never  die  (John  vi.  31-33,  48-51).  Nay, 
more  than  this  ;  since  his  Ascension  lie  is  in  some 
sort  a  "  hidden  manna  "  for  them  now.  Like  that 
manna  laid  up  in  the  Sanctuary  before  the  Testi- 
mony, He  too,  withdrawn  from  sight,  but  in  a 
human   body,   and   bearing   our  flesh,  is  yet   ex- 


II.  17.]  PEEGAMTJM,  EEV.  II.  12-17.  169 

empted  from  the  law  of  corruption  under  which 
all  other  children  of  men  have  lain  (Exocl.  xvi.  20, 
33,  34;  Acts  ii.  27,  31).  But  this  promise  of 
feeding  on  "  the  hidden  manna  "  is  misunderstood, 
or  at  any  rate  is  scanted  of  its  full  meaning,  unless 
we  look  on  to  something  more  and  higher  than 
this.  The  words  imply  that,  however  hidden  now, 
it  shall  not  remain  hidden  evermore  ;  and  the  best 
commentary  on  them  is  to  be  found  at  1  Cor.  ii. 
9;1  1  John  iii.  2.  The  seeing  Christ  as  He  is,  of 
the  latter  passage,  and  through  this  beatific  vision 
being  made  like  to  Him,  is  identical  with  this  eating 
of  the  hidden  manna ;  which  shall,  as  it  were,  be 
then  brought  forth  from  the  sanctuary,  the  Holy  of 
Holies  of  God's  immediate  presence,  where  it  was 
withdrawn  from  sight  so  long,  that  all  may  partake 
of  it ;  the  glory  of  Christ,  now  shrouded  and  con- 
cealed, being  then  revealed  to  his  people. 

There  has  been,  and  there  will  be  again,  occa- 
sion to  observe,  that  in  almost  all  these  promises 
there  is  a  peculiar  adaptation  of  the  promise  to  the 
self-denial  by  which  it  will  have  been  won.  Wit- 
sius  notes  this  here,  and  draws  out  very  beautifully 
the  inner  sweetness  of  this  promise  (Miscell.  Sacra, 
vol.  i.  p.  692)  :  "  Eas  [profanas  epulas]  si  quis  gen- 

1  Alcuin :  "  Apte  ergo  ilia  satietas  celestis  glorias  manna  [abscon- 
ditum  ?]  vocatur,  quia  juxta  Pauli  vocem  nee  oculus  vidit,  nee  in  cor 
hominis  ascendit,  quae  praeparavit  Deus  diligentibus  se," 


170        EPISTLES  TO  TIIE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.     [IL  17. 

erosa  ficlei  constantly,  una  cum  omnibus  blandientis 
seculi  deliciis  atque  illiciis  fortiter  spreverit,  sciat 
se  satiatum  iri  suavissimis  divinse  tarn  gratise  quam 
glorise  epulis,  quorum  suavitatem  nemo  rite  sesti- 
mare  novit,  nisi  qui  gustavit.  Propterea  autem 
mannce  absconditm  comparantur,  id  est,  illi  quge  in 
urna  aurea  in  abdito  loco  asservanda,  coram  facie 
Jehova3  seposita  fuit,  I.  Quia  quod  prsecipuum  est 
in  ilia  dulcedinis  Christi  participatione  reservatur 
cum  Christo  in  coelis  (Col.  iii.  3  ;  2  Tim.  i.  12).  II. 
Quia  mundanorum  liominum  nemo  dulcedinem  hu- 
jus  novit  (Joh.  xiv.  17) ;  immo  ne  ipsi  fideles  qui- 
dem  antequam  experiantur  (1  Job.  iii.  2).  III. 
Quia  communio  ista  non  in  diem  est,  uti  manna 
quotidiana,  sed  perpetua,  uti  ilia  quae  seposita  coram 
Domino  a  putrefactione  et  vermibus  immunis  erat 
(Job.  vi.  27),  et  propterea  profanis  Pergamensium 
epulis  immensum  anteferenda." 

"  And  will  give  him  a  white  stone,  and  in  the 
stone  a  new  name  written,  which  no  man  knoiocth 
saving  he  that  receiveth  ?V." — "  White  "  is  every 
where  the  colour  and  livery  of  heaven  ;  and  no- 
where with  a  greater  or  so  great  an  emphasis,  or 
with  so  frequent  iteration,  as  in  this  Pooh.  Thus  of 
the  Son  of  God  we  were  told,  "  His  head  and  his 
hairs  were  white  like  wool,  as  white  as  snow  "  (i. 
14).  Then  besides  this  "  white  stone "  we  have 
"  white  raiment "  (iii.  5),   "  white  robes  "  (vii.  9), 


II.  17.]  PEEGAMUM,   EEV.  II.  13-17.  171 

"  a  white  cloud  "  (xiv.  14),  "  fine  linen  clean  and 
white  "  (xix.  8,  14),  "  white  horses  "  (xix.  11,  14), 
"  a  great  white  throne "  (xx.  11).  With  these 
passages  compare  Dan.  vii.  9  ;  Matt.  xvii.  2 ; 
xxviii.  3  ;  Mark  ix.  3  ;  xvi.  5  ;  John  xx.  12  ;  Acts 
i.  10.  The  sense  of  the  fitness  of  white  to  serve  as 
a  symbol  of  absolute  purity  speaks  out  in  many 
ways ;  it  would  do  so  singularly  in  the  Latin 
"  castus,"  if  Do'derlein's  suggestion  that  "  castus  " 
is  a  participle  of  "  candeo  "  could  be  allowed.  It 
may  be  well  to  observe  that  this  "  white  "  as  the 
colour  of  heaven,  is  not  the  mere  absence  of  other 
colour,  not  the  dull  "  albus,"  but  the  bright  "  can- 
didus  ;  "  glistering  white — as  is  evident  from  many 
passages  ;  for  instance,  from  a  comparison  of  Matt. 
xxviii.  3  and  Luke  xxiv.  4  with  John  xx.  12  ;  of 
Eev.  xx.  11  (\evfcbs  6povo<;)  with  its  original  in 
Daniel  vii.  9  (dpovo?  avrov  <j)\b%  irvpo^)  ;  and  from 
those  passages  just  now  referred  to,  which  relate 
to  the  Transfiguration.  It  is  the  character  of  in- 
tense white  to  be  shining  ;  thus  "  niteo  "  (=  "  ni- 
viteo ")  is  connected  with  "  nix  ; "  Xeu/eo?  with 
"  lux,"  see  Donaldson,  New  Cratylus,  §  269.  "\Ye 
may  note  too  how  Xetwo?  and  Xafnrpos  are  used  as 
convertible  terms,  Eev.  xix.  8,  14 ;  while  at  Acts 
x.  30,  Xev/cfi  and  \a\xirpa  are  different  readings ; 
and  at  Cant.  v.  11,  the  Septuagint  has  Xeu/cc?,  and 
Symmachus  Xafnrpos. 


172         EPISTLES  TO  TIIE  SEVEN   CHUECHE3   IN   ASIA.     [II.  17. 

And  as  "  white"  so  also  "  new  "  belongs  emi- 
nently to  tins  Book ;  being  one  of  the  key-words 
of  it ;  He  who  is  the  giver  of  this  revelation  every 
where  setting  forth  Himself  as  the  only  renewer  of 
all  which  sin  had  made  old ;  the  author  of  a  new 
creation  even  in  the  midst  of  a  decaying  and  dying 
world  ;  and  thus  we  have  besides  the  "  new  name  " 
here  (cf.  iii.  12),  the  "  new  Jerusalem  "  (iii.  12), 
the  "  new  song  "  (v.  9),  the  "  new  heaven  and  the 
new  earth  "  (xxi.  1),  and  finally  "  all  things  new  " 
(xxi.  5) ;  with  all  which  we  may  profitably  compare 
Ps.  xxxii.  3  ;  cxliii.  10  ;  Isai.  xlii.  10  ;  lxii.  2  ;  lxv. 
IT  ;  Jer.  xxxi.  31 ;  Ezek.  xi.  19  ;  xxxvi.  2G. 

But  though  it  is  not  difficult  to  fix  the  symbolic 
significance  of  "  white  "  and  "  new  "  in  this  Book,  it 
must  be  freely  admitted  that  we  still  wait  an  en- 
tirely satisfactory  explanation  of  this  "  white  stone  " 
with  the  "  new  name  "  written  in  it.  The  greater 
number  of  expositors,  especially  the  older  ones,  start 
from  a  point  to  which  no  objection  can  be  made, 
namely,  that  there  was  in  ancient  times  some- 
thing festal,  fortunate,  of  good  omen,  in  white  peb- 
bles or  beans.  Thus  the  Greek  phrase  Xev/ci]  rjf^ifa, 
or  XevKou  i'lfiap  (iEschylus,  Pers.  305),  is  commonly 
derived  from  a  custom  ascribed  to  the  Scythians  or 
Thracians,  of  indicating  each  happy  day  which  they 
spent  with  a  white  stone  placed  in  an  urn,  each  un- 
happy witli  a  black.     After  death,  as  those  or  these 


II.  17.]  PERGAMTTM,  EEV.  II.  12-17.  173 

preponderated  in  number,  their  lives  were  counted 
happy .  or  miserable  (Pliny,  H.  N.  vii.  41 ;  the 
Younger  Pliny,  Ep.  vi.  11 ;  Martial  ix.  53  :  "  Dies 
nobis  Signandi  melioribus  lapillis  ").  Or  there  is 
another  explanation  of  the  "  white  day,"  connect- 
ing it  still  with  the  white  stone  or  bean,  I  mean 
that  given  by  Plutarch  in  his  Life  of  Pericles,  c. 
64  ;  I  quote  the  translation  of  North.  At  the  siege 
of  Samos,  fearing  that  his  soldiers  would  be  weary 
with  its  length,  "  he  divided  his  army  into  eight 
companies,  whom  he  made  to  draw  lots,  and  that 
company  which  lighted  upon  the  white  bean,  they 
should  be  quiet  and  make  good  cheer,  while  the 
other  seven  fought.  And  they  say  that  from  thence 
it  came  that  when  any  have  made  good  cheer,  and 
taken  pleasure  abroad,  they  do  yet  call  it  a  white 
day,  because  of  the  white  bean." 

But  how,  it  may  be  asked,  is  all  this  brought  to 
bear  on  the  promise  of  the  "  white  stone  "  to  the 
faithful  here  ?  The  earliest  attempt  to  find  help  in 
this  quarter  is  that  of  the  Greek  commentator 
Andreas.  He  sees  allusion  in  these  words  to  the 
white  pebble,  by  placing  which  in  the  ballot-box 
the  Greek  judges  pronounced  the  sentence  of  ac- 
quittal (yfrfjfoi  aco^ovcrao  they  were  therefore  called), 
as  by  the  black  of  condemnation ;  a  custom  ex- 
pressed in  the  well-known  lines  of  Ovid  (Metam. 
xv.  41,  42) : 


174:        EPISTLES  TO  TUE  SEVEN  OHUECHES  IN  ASIA.      [II.  17. 

"Mos  erat  antiquus,  niveis  atrisque  lapillis, 
His  damnare  reos,  illis  absolvere  culpse." 

But,  not  to  speak  of  a  grave  fault,  of  which  I  shall 
presently  speak,  common  to  this  and  almost  every 
other  explanation  of  these  words  which  is  offered, 
this  one  is  manifestly  inadequate ;  the  absolving 
pebble  was  not  given  to  the  acquitted,  as  this  is 
to  the  victor,  nor  was  there  any  name  written  up- 
on it. 

Others  see  allusion  to  the  tessera  (it  too  was 
called  yjrr)(f)o<;)  which  the  conquerors  at  the  Olympic 
or  other  solemn  games  (the  okvfAirLovZKai,  lepovi/cai) 
received  from  the  master  of  the  games ;  which 
Tfrijfos  gave  ever  after  to  him  who  received  it  cer- 
tain honorary  distinctions  and  privileges,  as  for  ex- 
ample, the  right  of  free  access  to  the  "public  enter- 
tainments. So  Arethas,  Gerhard  {Loci  Theoll.  vol. 
ii.  p.  327),  and  others  ;  while  Yitringa  is  obliged  to 
confess  that  he  can  only  explain  the  symbol  by 
combining  together  these  two  customs  of  the  ab- 
solving pebble,  and  the  tessera  given  to  the  victor  in 
the  games  ;  which  two  in  the  higher  interpretation 
must  be  blended  into  one :  "  Ut  tamen  verum  fa- 
tear,  probabile  videri  possit  Dominum  orationem 
Buam  hoc  loco  ita  temperasse,  ut  non  ad  simpliccm 
aliquem  ritum,  apud  Grsecos  receptum,  hie  loci  al- 
luscrit,  sed  phrasin  suam  mutuatus  sit  a  duobus 
illis  ritibus  supra  commemoratis,  inter  se  compositis, 


II.  17.]  l'EKGAMUM,  EEV.  II.  12-17.  175 

qui  licet  diversi  fuerint  generis,  in  tertio  tamen, 
quod  dicitur,  inter  se  conveniebant." 

But  all  these  explanations,  and  others  which  it 
would  be  tedious  to  enumerate,  even  if  they  were 
more  satisfactory,  and  they  appear  to  me  most  un- 
satisfactory, are  affected  with  the  same  fatal  weak- 
ness, namely,  that  they  are  borrowed  from  heathen 
antiquity,  while  this  Book  moves  exclusively  within 
the  circle  of  sacred,  that  is,  of  Jewish,  imagery  and 
symbols ;  nor  is  the  explanation  of  its  symbols  in 
any  case  to  be  sought  beyond  this  circle.  All 
which  on  this  matter  was  said  in  respect  of  the 
"  crown  of  life  "  (ii.  10)  finds  its  application  here. 
It  is  true  that  Hengstenberg,  whose  interpretation 
I  have  not  yet  mentioned,  avoids  this  mistake,  but 
at  a  cost  which  leaves  his  as  valueless  as  the  others. 
For  him  the  "  white  stone  "  has  no  significance  of 
its  own,  no  independent  value,  being  introduced 
merely  for  the  sake  of  the  "  new  name  "  which  is 
written  upon  it,  and  that  it  may  serve  as  a  vehicle 
for  this  name,  the  substrate  on  which  that  is  super- 
induced, and  as  such  entirely  subordinate  to  it. 
Few,  I  am  persuaded,  reading  the  words  of  the 
promise,  with  the  emphasis  which  the  Lord  lays  on 
the  twice-repeated  mention  of  the  stone,  and  noting 
the  independent  place  which  it  occupies  as  itself  a 
gift,  whatever  other  gifts  might  be  associated  with 
it,  will  be  content  to  acquiesce  in  this,  or  to  regard 


as  a  solution,  what  is  in  fact  merely  an  evasion,  of 
the  difficulty  which  the  words  present. 

But  to  return.  The  first  necessary  condition  of 
any  interpretation  which  should  be  accepted  as  sat- 
isfactory being  this,  that  it  should  be  sacred  and 
not  heathen,  at  the  same  time  this  is  not  the  only 
one.  There  appear  to  me  two  other  necessary  con- 
ditions, the  non-fulfilment  of  which  is  fatal  to  any 
exposition  ;  the  fulfilment  of  them,  on  the  contrary, 
not  being  itself  a  proof  that  the  right  interpretation 
has  been  seized  ;  but  only  a  conditio  sine  qua  non, 
and  uj)  to  a  certain  point  implying  a  probability 
that  this  has  been  attained.  Besides  thus  being 
Jewish  or  sacred,  and  not  heathen  or  profane, 
which  I  believe  is  the  universal  law  of  all  Apoc- 
alyptic symbolism,  the  solution  must  in  this  par- 
ticular instance  refer  to  the  wilderness  period  of 
Jewish  history,  in  the  same  way  as  the  "  hidden 
manna  "  does.  I  must  ask  the  reader  to  suspend 
his  demand  for  a  proof  of  this  assertion  till  we  have 
reached  the  very  last  of  the  promises,  when  the 
course  and  order  of  them  all  will  be  considered. 
And,  in  the  second  place,  it  must  be  capable  of 
being  brought  into  some  unity  with  that  other 
promise  of  eating  of  the  hidden  manna  ;  there  must 
be  some  bond  of  connexion  between  the  two.  I 
conclude  this  not  merely  from  the  natural  fitness 
of  things,  but  from  the  analogy  of  all  the  other 


II.  17.]  TEltGAMUM,  REV.  II.  12-17.  177 

promises  made  to  the  other  Churches.  In  every 
other  case  the  promise  is  either  absolutely  single, 
as  at  ii.  7,  11  ;  iii.  21  ;  or  single  in  its  cen- 
tral idea,  as  at  ii.  26-28  ;  iii.  5,  12,  which  I  shall 
have  the  opportunity  of  showing.  "Which  thing 
being  so,  it  is  very  improbable  that  the  present 
should  be  an  exception  to  the  rule,  and  that  here 
two  entirely  disparate  promises  should  be  arbitrarily 
linked  together. 

The  only  solution  I  know  which  fulfils  all  these 
conditions,  is  one  proposed  by  Ziillig.1  It  has  found 
no  favour  whatever,  having  been  indeed  wrought 
out  by  him  in  a  manner  of  itself  sufficient  to  insure 
its  rejection.  Fully  acknowledging  my  obligation 
to  him  for  the  original  suggestion  of  it,  and  for  some 
of  the  arguments  by  which  it  is  supported,  I  must 
yet  claim  to  set  it  forth  independently  of  him,  nor 
is  he  in  any  respect  responsible  for  my  statement 
of  it. 

Starting  then  from  a  reconsideration  of  the 
word  o/r?}^)09,  this,  it  may  be  observed,  is  sometimes 
used  in  the  later  Greek  for  a  precious  stone  ;  thus 
i/ttJ^o?  hatcrvkiKr},  the  gem  in  a  seal-ring.  Neither 
is  there  in  the  epithet  Xev/eo?,  not  "  albus "  but 
"  candidus,"  anything  which  renders  this  unlikely 
here,  but  rather  the  contrary ;  a  diamond,  for  in- 
stance, being  of  the  purest  glistering  white.     The 

1   Offenb.  Johaiinis,  vol.  i.  pp.  408-454. 
8* 


178         EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.     [II.  17. 

i/n^o?  \evfcr)  then  may  be,  not  what  we  commonly 
begin  with  taking  for  granted  it  must  be,  a  white 
pebble,  but  a  precious  stone  shining  white,  a  dia- 
mond. But  may  not  the  mysterious  Uriin  and 
Thummim  have  been  exactly  this  ?  First,  let  me 
observe,  by  way  of  preoccupying  a  difficulty  on 
the  threshold,  that  whatever  this  may  have  been, 
it  was  not  two  things,  but  two  names  for  one  and 
the  same  thing  (see  Bahr,  SymloWk  d.  Mos.  Cult. 
vol.  ii.  pp.  109,  110) ;  often  therefore  called  only 
the  Uriin  (Num.  xxvii.  21 ;  1  Sam.  xxviii.  6). 
Sparing  my  readers  the  learning  which  might 
easily  be  transcribed  to  any  amount  from  the 
many  elaborate  treatises  devoted  to  the  question 
what  this  "[Trim  and  Thummim  was,  let  me  state 
the  conclusions  to  which  those  who  have  studied 
the  matter  most  profoundly  have  arrived.  They  are 
agreed  that  it  was  some  precious  thing  which  the 
High  Priest  bore  within  the  Choschen  or  square 
breastplate  of  judgment,  this  being  doubled  back 
upon  itself,  to  the  end  that  like  a  purse  it  might 
contain  the  treasure  committed  to  it  (Exod.  xxviii. 
15-30  ;  Lev.  viii.  S),  and  with  all  its  costly  jewel- 
lery and  elaborate  workmanship  existing  for  this 
object,  quite  as  much  as  the  ark  for  the  tables  of 
the  law.  But  what  precious  thing  this  ITrim  was 
is  shrouded  in  mystery  ;  only  as  that  in  the  purse, 
that  for  which  the  purse  was  made,  is  likely  to 


II.  17.]  PERGAMUM,   REV.  II.   12-17.  179 

have  been  more  precious  than  the  purse  itself,  if 
that  was  set  with  its  twelve  precious  stones,  each 
with  the  name  of  a  tribe  engraven  on  it,  in  this  we 
are  led  to  look  for  a  stone  rarer  and  more  costly 
than  them  all ;  and  it  is  certainly  very  noticeable 
that  among  the  twelve  stones  of  the  breastplate  the 
diamond  does  not  appear  ;  for  the  mention  of  it  in 
our  Version  (Exod.  xxviii.'  18)  is  confessedly  a  mis- 
take ; — as  though  this  stone  had  been  reserved  for 
a  higher  honour  and  dignity  still. 

Then  further,  no  one  knows,  probably  no  one  ever 
knew,  what  was  written  on  the  Urim ;  except  indeed 
the  High  Priest ;  who,  consulting  it  that  he  might 
in  some  way  obtain  through  it  lively  oracles  from 
God,  in  matters  which  greatly  concerned  the  weal 
or  woe  of  the  people,  could  not  have  remained  ig- 
norant of  this.  It  is  generally  conjectured,  how- 
ever, to  have  been  the  holy  Tetragrammaton ;  the 
ineffable  name  of  God.  I  need  hardly  ask  the  reader 
who  has  followed  me  thus  far  to  note  how  well  this 
agrees  with  the  words  before  us,  "  and  in  the  stone 
a  new  name  written,  which  no  man  I'noweth  saving 
he  that  receiveth  it."  Many  indeed  are  led  away 
from  the  right  interpretation  of  these  last  words,  by 
referring  this  "  receiveth  it"  to  the  "  name"  and 
not  to  the  "  stone  /  "  "  saving  he  that  receiveth  this 
name" — when,  as  I  feel  sure,  we  ought  to  under- 
stand it,  "  saving  he  that  receiveth  this  stone."    They 


180        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN   CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.     [II.  IT. 

assume  the  overcomer's  own  name  to  be  that  writ- 
ten on  this  stone ;  and  draw  from  these  words  an 
intimation  that,  just  as  the  mystery  of  regeneration 
is  known  only  to  the  new-born,  so  the  yet  higher 
glory  of  heaven  only  to  him  that  is  partaker  of  it 
(1  Cor.  xiii.  9) ;  which  all  is  most  true,  and  a  new 
name  is  often  used  to  express  a  new  blessedness 
(Isai.  lxii.  2  ;  lxv.  15) ;  but  yet  it  is  not  the  truth, 
I  am  persuaded,  of  the  present  words.  The  "  new 
name  "  here  is  something  even  better  than  this.  It 
is  the  new  name  of  God  or  of  Christ,  "my  new 
name  "  (iii.  12),  some  revelation  of  the  glory  of  God, 
only  in  that  higher  state  capable  of  being  commu- 
nicated by  Him  to  his  people,  and  which  they  only 
can  understand  who  have  actually  received  ;  for  it 
is  a  knowing  which  is  identical  with  a  being. 

How  excellently  well  the  promise,  so  understood, 
matches  with  the  other  promise  of  the  hidden  man- 
na, which  goes  hand  in  hand  with  it.  I  said  at  the 
outset  of  this  inquiry,  that  there  ought  to  be  an 
inner  bond  between  the  two  parts  of  the  promise, 
and  such,  according  to  this  interpretation,  there  is. 
"  The  hidden  manna  "  and  the  "  white  stone  "  are  not 
merely  united  in  time,  belonging  both  to  the  wilder- 
ness period  of  the  history  of  God's  people ;  but  they 
are  united  as  both  representing  high-priestly  privi- 
leges, which  the  Lord  should  at  length  impart  to  all 
his  people,  kings  and  priests  to  God,  as  He  will 


II.  IT.]  PERGAMTJM,  EEV.  II.  12-17.  181 

then  have  made  them  all.  If  any  should  eat  of 
"  the  hidden  manna"  who  but  the  High  Priest, 
who  alone  had  entrance  into  the  Holy  Place  where 
it  was  laid  up  ?  If  any  should  have  knowledge  of 
what  was  graven  on  the  Urim,  who  but  the  same 
High  Priest,  in  whose  keeping  it  was,  and  who  was 
bound  by  his  very  office  to  consult  it  ?  The  mys- 
tery of  what  was  written  there,  shut  to  every  other, 
would  be  open  to  him.  In  lack  of  any  more  satis- 
fying explanation  of  the  " white  stone"  with  the 
"  new  name  "  written  upon  it,  I  venture  to  suggest 
that  the  key  to  it  may  possibly  be  here. 


IV. 

EPISTLE  TO  THE  CHURCH  OF  THYATIRA. 

Rev.  ii.  18-29. 


Ver.  18.  "And  unto  the  Angel  of  the  Church 
in  Thyatira  write" — The  Roman  road  from  Perga- 
mum  to  Sardis  left  Thyatira,  as  we  are  told  by  Stra- 
bo  (xiii.  4),  a  little  to  the  left ;  St.  John  is  led  in  the 
Spirit  by  the  same  route  which  he  may  often  in  time 
past  have  travelled  in  the  course  of  his  apostolic 
visitations.  Thyatira,  a  city  of  no  first-rate  dignity, 
was  a  Macedonian  colony  (Strabo,  xiii.  4)  ;  and  it 
may  be  looked  at  as  a  slight  and  unintentional  con- 
firmation, in  a  minute  particular,  of  the  veracity  of 
the  Acts,  that  Lydia,  a  purple-seller  of  Thyatira,  is 
met  exactly  in  the  Macedonian  city  of  Philippi 
(Acts  xvi.  14),  being  precisely  that  which  was  likely 
to  happen  from  the  close  and  frequent  intercourse 
maintained  between  a  mother  city  and  its  daughter 
colonies.  From  this  Lydia,  whose  heart  the  Lord 
had  opened  to  attend  to  the  things  spoken  of  Paul, 


II.  19.]  THYATIE^,  EEV.  IL  18-29.  183 

the  Church  at  Thyatira  may  have  taken  its  begin- 
nings ;  she  who  had  gone  forth  for  a  while,  to  buy 
and  sell  and  get  gain,  when  she  returned  home 
may  have  brought  home  with  her  richer  merchan- 
dise than  any  she  had  looked  to  obtain. 

"  These  things  saith  the  Son  of  God,  who  hath 
his  eyes  like  unto  a  flame  of  jive,  and  his  feet  are 
like  fine  brass" — The  attributes  which  the  Lord 
claims  are  again  drawn  from  the  description  of  the 
first  chapter,  ver.  14,  15,  which  see.  The  title 
"  Son  of  God  "  (cf.  xix.  13)  is  not  indeed  expressly 
and  in  so  many  words  there  ;  but  it  is  involved  in, 
and  is  the  sum  total  of  the  impression  left  by  the 
whole  description.  The  actual  form  of  this  title  is 
here  drawn  from  the  second  Psalm,  ver.  9,  as  is 
plain  from  more  than  one  reference  to  that  Psalm 
before  this  Epistle  is  ended  ;  thus,  compare  ver.  26 
with  Ps.  ii.  8  ;  and  ver.  27  with  ii.  9.  He  who  will 
presently  give  dominion  to  his  servants,  first  claims 
it  for  Himself.  The  heathen  have  been  given  to 
Him  for  an  inheritance,  else  He  could  not  give  them 
to  his  servants.  If  they  are  to  rule  them  with  a 
rod  of  iron,  and  break  them  in  pieces  like  a  potter's 
vessel,  it  is  only  as  partakers  in  a  power  which  He 
has  Himself  first  received. 

Ver.  19.  "  I  know  thy  works,  and  charity,  and 
service,  and  faith,  and  thy  patience,  and  thy  works  ; 
and  the  last  to  be  more  than  the  first" — Omit  "  and 


184        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHE3  IN  ASIA.      [II.  19. 

thy  icorks  "  on  its  second  occurrence,  which  has  no 
right  to  a  place  in  the  text,  and  which  mars  the 
symmetry  of  all.  We  shall  then  have  two  pairs, 
— first,  "  thy  charity  and  thy  service"  for  the  article 
prefixed  to  all  these  words  shows  that  the  conclud- 
ing aov  belongs  to  them  all, — the  "  charity"  or  love, 
being  the  more  inward  thing,  the  "  service"  {hiaicovia) 
the  outward  ministrations,  the  helps  of  all  hind 
shown  first  to  the  household  of  faith,  and  then  to  all 
others,  in  which  this  "  charity  "  found  its  utterance 
(Acts  xi.  29  ;  1  Cor.  xvi.  15  ;  2  Cor.  xii.  9  ;  Heb.  vi. 
10).  As  the  first  pair  have  a  very  close  inner  con- 
nexion, so  have  also  the  next  pair,  "  thy  faith  and 
thy  patience"  It  needs  but  to  refer  in  proof  to 
Heb.  xi.  27  :  "  He  endured,  as  seeing  Him  that  is 
invisible ; "  and  indeed  Scripture  everywhere  de- 
clares that  faith  is  the  root  and  source  of  all  patient 
continuance  in  well-doing. — "  And  the  last  to  he 
more  than  the  first."  The  faithful  in  Thyatira  were 
growing  and  increasing  in  this  service  of  love,  this 
patience  of  faith ;  herein  satisfying  the  desire  of 
Him,  who  evermore  desires  for  his  people  that  they 
should  abound  more  and  more  in  all  good  things. 
How  much  better  this  ra  ea^ara  irXeiova  tcov 
7rpQ)Tcov  than  that  of  which  St.  Peter  elsewhere 
speaks  as  the  state  of  some,  ra  ecr^ara  %eipova 
Toiv  7rpcorcov  (2  Ep.  ii.  20  ;  cf.  Matt.  xii.  45),  which, 
as  regards  the  most  excellent  grace  of  all,  the  Lord 


IL  20.]  THTATIKA,  REV.  IL  18-29.  185 

lias  just  declared  to  be  the  state  of  the  Ephesian 
Church  (ver.  4). 

Yer.  20.  "  Notwithstanding  Ihave  a  few  things 
against  thee,  because  thou  sufferest  that  ivoman  Jeze- 
bel, which  calleth  herself  a  'prophetess,  to  teach  and  to 
seduce  my  servants  to  commit  fornication,  and  to  eat 
things  sacrificed  unto  idols." — Omit  "  a  few  things  " 
(oXlya),  which  has  no  business  in  the  text,  changing, 
as  a  consequence  of  this,  "  because  "  into  "  that  " — 
but  do  not  change  "  that  woman  "  into  "  thy  wife  " 
(rfjv  yvval/cd  crov),  the  authority  for  the  insertion  of 
crov  being  insufficient  to  justify  this.  The  whole 
condition  of  things  at  Thyatira  was  exactly  the  re- 
verse of  what  it  was  at  Ephesus.  There  much  zeal 
for  orthodoxy,  and  for  the  maintenance  of  sound 
doctrine,  but  little  love,  and  as  a  consequence,  no 
doubt,  few  ministrations  of  love.  Here  the  activity 
of  faith  and  love ;  but  insufficient  zeal  for  the  main- 
tenance of  godly  discipline  and  doctrine,  a  patience 
of  error  even  where  there  was  not  a  participation  in 
it.  Each  of  these  Churches  was  weak  in  that  where- 
in the  other  was  strong. 

But  whom  shall  we  understand  by  "  that  vjo?nan 
Jezebel,  which  calleth  herself  a  prophetess"  whom 
the  Lord  proceeds  presently  to  threaten  with  so  ter- 
rible a  doom  ?  It  will  be  expedient  here  to  consider 
first  the  position  which  the  literal  and  historic  Jeze- 
bel occupies  in  the  history  of  the  Church  of  the  Old 


186         EPISTLES  TO  TIIE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.     [II.  2a 

Testament.  As  Balaam,  in  the  earlier  history  of 
the  children  of  Israel,  was  the  author  of  the  great 
attempt  to  introduce  heathenism  with  all  its  train 
of  attendant  impurities  into  the  heart  of  the  Church 
of  God  (Eev.  ii.  14  ;  Num.  xxv.),  so  Jezebel  in  the 
later  period  of  that  same  history.  She  was  a 
daughter  of  Ethbaal,  king  of  Sidon  (1  Kings  xvi. 
13).  The  identity  of  this  Ethbaal  and  EtBafidKo^ 
mentioned  in  a  fragment  of  the  Tyrian  Annals  of 
Menander,  preserved  by  Josephus  {Con.  Apion.  i. 
18),  is  sufficiently  made  out,  and  is  not,  I  believe, 
called  in  question  by  any.  Of  him  then  we  there 
learn  that  he  was  priest  of  Astarte,  and,  by  the 
murder  of  his  predecessor  Pheles,  made  his  own 
way  to  the  throne  and  kingdom.  Jezebel,  so  swift 
to  shed  blood  (1  Kings  xviii.  4 ;  xix.  2  ;  xxi.  10),  is 
a  worthy  offshoot  of  this  evil  stock.  ISTor  less  does 
she  attest  herself  the  daughter  of  the  priest  of 
Astarte.  Hitherto  the  worship  of  the  Calves  had 
been  the  extent  of  the  departure  of  the  Ten  Tribes 
from  the  Levitical  institutions, — the  true  God  wor- 
shipped still,  the  law  of  Moses  in  the  main  allowed 
and  kept,  however  there  might  be  a  certain  amount 
of  sinful  will-worship  mingling  with  and  spoiling 
all.  But  from  the  time  of  Ahab's  marriage  with 
the  daughter  of  Ethbaal  the  apostasy  of  Israel  as- 
sumes altogether  a  different  character  ;  the  guilt  of 
it  is  of  quite  another  and  an  infinitely  deadlier  kind 


II.  20.]  THTATIEA,  EEV.  II.  18-29.  1ST 

(1  Kings  xvi.  31 ;  xxi.  25,  26).  A  fanatical  pro- 
moter of  the  Baal  worship  (1  Kings  xviii.  19),  over- 
bearing with,  her  stronger  will  the  weak  will  of  her 
despicable  husband,  animated  with  the  fiercest 
hatred  against  the  prophets  of  Jehovah,  the  last  wit- 
nesses for  Him  in  Israel,  now  that  the  Levitical  priest- 
hood had  been  abolished  there  (1  Kings  xxi.  31),  she 
seeks  utterly  to  exterminate  these  (1  Kings  xviii.  13). 
She  was  probably  herself,  like  her  moral  namesake 
here,  a  false  prophetess  ;  a  priestess  of  that  foul  en- 
thusiasm. Many  arguments  might  be  adduced  to 
make  this  probable  at  the  least.  As  much  seems 
implied  in  Jehu's  answer  to  Joram's  question,  "  Is  it 
peace  \  "  "  What  peace,  so  long  as  the  whoredoms  of 
thy  mother  Jezebel,  and.  her  witchcrafts  are  so  many  " 
(2  Kings  ix.  22)  ?  While,  again,  when  we  keep  in 
mind  the  essentially  impure  character  of  the  Phoe- 
nician idolatries  which  she  introduced, — Ashtaroth 
or  Astarte  was  the  Phoenician  Aphrodite, — we  have 
an  explanation  of  the  "  whoredoms  "  which  Jehu 
further  lays  to  her  charge,  and  which  may  thus 
have  set  an  hideous  contradiction  between  her  and 
her  name,  if  indeed  that  derivation  which  would 
make  it  etymologically  to  signify  The  Chaste  (our 
Agnes)  is  the  true  one.  Nor  is  this  the  only  pas- 
sage where  these  impurities  are  ascribed  to  her. 
There  is  at  Jeremiah  iv.  30  an  allusion,  often  over- 
looked, but,  so  soon-  as  attention  is  called  to  it,  not 


188       EPISTLES  TO   THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.     [II.  20. 

to  be  gainsaid,  to  2  Kings  ix.  30 ;  and  there  the  lov- 
ers or  paramours  of  Jezebel  appear. 

Such  was  the  elder  Jezebel.  And  the  later,  as- 
suredly not  a  sect  of  evil-workers  personified,  but 
some  single  wicked  woman  in  the  Church  of  Thya- 
tira,  inheriting  from  her  this  name  of  infamy  in  the 
Church  of  God,  would  seem  to  have  followed  hai;d 
in  the  steps  of  her  Jewish  prototype  (for  a  like  trans- 
fer of  an  evil  name  see  Isai.  i.  10).  She  gave  her- 
self out  for  a  prophetess,  and  in  one  sense  probably 
was  so, — no  mere  teacher  of  perverse  things,  employ- 
ing her  intellectual  faculties  in  the  service  of  Satan, 
and  not  of  God ;  but  claiming  inspiration,  and  prob- 
ably possessing  it,  wielding  spiritual  powers,  only 
they  were  such  as  reached  her  from  beneath,  not 
such  as  descended  on  her  from  above ;  for  as  at  this 
time  miraculous  gifts  of  grace  and  power  were  at 
work  in  the  Church,  so  were  also  their  counterparts. 
And  thus,  by  aid  of  these,  she  seduced  the  servants 
of  Christ  "  to  commit  fornication,  and  to  eat  things 
sacrificed  to  idols  /  "  see  ver.  14.  The  attempt  to 
restrain  "  servants  "  here  to  those  who  hold  office  in 
the  Church  is  certainly  a  mistake.  Aov\o<;  may 
very  well  have  this  narrower  meaning  at  i.  1 ;  but 
that  BovXoi  includes  the  whole  body  of  the  faithful 
at  vii.  3  ;  xxii.  3,  is  evident.  A  comparison  of  this 
verse  with  ver.  14-1G  leaves  no  doubt  that  the  Jeze- 
belites,  and  Balaamites,  and  Mcolaitans,  with  sec- 


IL21,22.]  TIIYATIEA,   REV.  II.  18-29.  189 

ondary  differences  no  doubt,  were  yet  substantially 
the  same  ; — all  libertine  sects,  disclaiming  the  obli- 
gations of  the  mora!  law  ;  all  starting  with  a  denial 
that  Jesus  Christ  was  come  in  the  flesh,  and  that  in 
the  flesh  therefore  men  were  to  be  holy  ;  false  spir- 
itualists, whose  high  pretensions  did  not  hinder  them 
from  ending  in  the  foulest  fleshly  sins. 

Ver.  21.  "  And  I  gave  her  space  to  repent  of  her 
fornication,  and  she  repented  not." — The  fact  that 
punishment  does  not  at  once  overtake  sinners  is 
constantly  perverted  by  them  as  an  evidence  that 
it  never  will  overtake  them  (Eccl.  viii.  11 ;  Isai. 
xxvi.  10  ;  Ps.  xxvi.  11) ;  that  God  does  not  see,  or, 
seeing,  does  not  care  to  avenge.  Christ  opens  out 
here  another  aspect  under  which  this  delay  in  the 
divine  revenges  may  be  regarded.  The  very  time 
during  which  ungodly  men  are  heaping  up  for 
themselves  greater  wrath  against  the  day  of  wrath, 
was  a  time  lent  them  for  repentance  (Rom.  ii.  4 ; 
2  Pet.  iii.  9),  if  only  they  would  have  understood 
the  object  and  the  meaning  of  it. 

Ver.  22.  "  Behold,  I  will  cast  her  into  a  bed, 
and  them  that  commit  adultery  with  her  into  great 
tribidation,  except  they  repent  of  their  deeds." — 
These  last  words  imply  that  even  now  the  day  of 
grace  was  not  expired  for  these  transgressors,  how- 
ever near  at  hand  the  close  of  it  might  be.    "  I  will 


190        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.     [II.  23. 

cast  her  into  a  led  ;  "  '  there  where  she  has  sinned 
shall  she  also  be  punished  (cf.  1  Kings  xxi.  19); 
the  bed  of  sin  shall  be  the  bed  of  languishing,  of 
sickness,  and  of  death.  The  allusion  which  Yitringa 
traces  here  to  the  bed  on  which  Ahab  cast  himself 
down  heavy  and  displeased  (1  Kings  xxi.  4)  is  in- 
genious, but  exceedingly  far-fetched. 

Yer.  23.  "  And  I  will  hill  her  children  with 
death." — If  her  lovers,  those  "  that  commit  adul- 
tery with  her  "  (ver.  22),  can  only  mean  the  chief 
furtherers  and  abettors  of  those  evil  things  (she 
may  have  seduced  them  to  fleshly  as  well  as  spir- 
itual wickedness),  "  her  children  "  must  be  rather 
the  less  prominent,  less  forward  members  of  the 
same  wicked  company,  more  the  deceived,  while 
the  others  were  the  deceivers  (Isai.  lvii.  3),  who 
yet  should  be  overtaken  with  those  others  in  a 
common  doom  (Ezek.  xxiii.  47).  The  words  "  with 
death "   must  plainly  be   accepted   as   emphatic ; 

1  A  curious  testimony  to  the  entire  disappearance  of  Greek,  and 
of  the  power  of  appealing  to  Greek  copies  of  Scripture,  probably  to 
the  total  absence  of  Greek  copies  in  "Western  Europe  to  appeal  to, 
and  the  consequent  exclusive  dependence  on  the  Vulgate,  occurs  here 
in  the  Commentary  of  Richard  of  St.  Victor,  one  of  the  most  learned 
men  of  perhaps  the  most  learned  monastic  foundation  in  France.  He 
observes  that  some  copies  here  read  'leetum,'  some  'luctum;'  dis- 
cusses at  length  the  relative  advantages  and  probabilities  of  the  two 
readings,  without  a  word  implying  the  possibility  of  settling  the  ques- 
tion .-it  once  bv  a  glance  at  the  original. 


IL  23.]  THTATIEA,  HEY.  II.  1S-29.  191 

some  understand,  with  pestilence  and  plague  (see 
Jer.  xxi.  7),  relying  mainly  on  Key.  vi.  8  ;  which, 
however,  is  insufficient  to  bear  ont  this  view,  seeing 
that  Sdvaros  in  that  passage  itself  cannot  be  proved 
to  mean  this ;  a  reference  to  2  Sam.  xxiv.  13,  15, 
LXX.  would  be  more  to  the  point.  Hengstenberg 
detects  an  allusion  to  the  death  of  the  adulteress 
(Lev.  xx.  10  ;  cf.  John  viii.  5) ;  but  this  can 
scarcely  be ;  for  it  is  the  "  children "  of  the  adul- 
teress, not  the  adulteress  herself,  who  are  here 
threatened  with  death.  Others  find  a  reference  to 
the  two  sweeping  catastrophies  which  overtook  the 
Baal  priests  and  votaries  at  exactly  that  period  of 
Jewish  history  to  which  the  mention  of  Jezebel 
here  points  (1  Kings  xviii.  40  ;  2  Kings  x.  25).  To 
me  it  seems  no  more  than  a  threat  that  their  doom 
should  be  a  signal  one,  that  they  should  not  die  the 
common  death  of  all  men,  nor  be  visited  after  the 
visitation  of  all  men  (Num.  xvi.  29),  but  leaving 
the  precise  manner  of  that  doom  undefined. 

"  And  all  the  Churches  shall  know  that  I  am 
He  which  searcheth  the  reins  and  hearts." — The 
judgment  on  this  brood  of  transgressors  shall  be  so 
open  and  manifest,  their  sin  shall  so  plainly  find 
them  out,  that,  not  the  wicked,  for  God's  judg- 
ments are  far  above  out  of  their  sight,  whether  those 
judgments  overtake  themselves  or  others,  but  "  all 
the  Churches"  all  who  ponder  these  things  and  lay 


192        EriSTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CIIUECHE9   IN  ASIA.     [II.  23. 

them  to  heart,  shall  confess  that  He  who  moves  up 
and  down  in  the  midst  of  his  Church,  beholding 
the  evil  and  the  good,  is  a  God  of  knowledge  (see 
ii.  2),  who  is  not  mocked ;  "  which  searcheth  the 
reins  and  hearts"  (rat?  ivvoiais  e/x^arevcov,  as 
Olympiodorus  explains  it), — "  the  reins  "  being  re- 
garded as  the  seat  of  the  passions,  "  the  heart "  of 
the  affections  ;  cf.  Jer.  xvii.  10  ;  xx.  12.  But  this 
searching  of  the  hearts  and  reins  being,  as  it  is,  a 
prerogative  f  Deity  (Mark  ii.  8),  God  only  know- 
ing the  hearts  of  men  (o  Kap$coyva>o-T7]<;  Qecs,  Acts 
xv.  8  ;  i.  2-1 ;  1  Chron.  xxix.  17),  it  is  plain  that 
Christ,  claiming  this  to  Himself,  is  implicitly  claim- 
ing to  be  God. — 'Epevvav  is  used  in  this  same 
sense  of  searching,  Bom.  viii.  27,  and  always  ex- 
presses a  careful  investigation,  a  following  up  of 
tracks  or  indications  as  far  as  they  will  lead,  as  the 
dog  the  footprints  of  the  chase,  the  miner  the  veins 
of  the  metal  (Gen.  xxxi.  35  ;  1  Kings  xx.  6  ;  Prov. 
xx.  27  ;  1  Cor.  ii.  10  ;  1  Pet.  i.  11).  Expressing, 
as  the  word  does,  this  laborious  and  even  painful 
investigation,  leading  step  by  step  to  its  result,  it, 
in  the  same  way  as  every  other  discursive  act,  can 
only  av0pco7ro7ra3-(hs  be  ascribed  to  God ;  to  whom 
by  absolute  and  immediate  intuition  all  hearts  at 
all  times  lie  open  and  manifest ;  who  needs  not  to 
search  out,  and  in  this  way  to  find,  that  which  He 
always  knows.     For  ipevvwv  the  Septnagint  Trans- 


IL  24.]  THTATIEA,  EEY.  II.  1S-29.  193 

lators  prefer  ird&v  (Ps.  vii.  10  ;  1  Chron.  xxix. 
17 ;  Ps.  cxxxviii.  22  ;  Jer.  xvii.  10),  which  does 
not  occur  in  the  Xew  Testament, 

"  And  I  will  give  unto  every  one  of  yon  accord- 
ing to  your  ivories." — This  promise,  or  this  threat, 
for  it  may  be  either,  is  one  which  we  commonly 
keep  at  this  time  too  much  in  the  background  ;  but 
it  is  one  which  we  should  press  on  ourselves  and 
on  others  with  the  same  emphasis  wherewith  Christ 
and  his  Word  presses  it  upon  us  all  (^s.  lxii.  13  ; 
Matt.  xvi.  27 ;  Eom.  ii.  6  ;  Job  xxxivr  11 ;  Pro  v. 
xxiv.  12  ;  Jer.  xxii.  19).  It  is  indeed  one  of  the 
gravest  mischiefs  which  Rome  has  bequeathed  to 
us,  that  in  a  reaction  and  protest,  itself  absolutely 
necessary,  against  the  false  emphasis  which  she 
put  on  works,  unduly  thrusting  them  in  to  share 
with  Christ's  merits  in  our  justification,  we  often 
fear  to  place  upon  them  the  true ;  being  as  they 
are,  to  speak  with  St.  Bernard,  the  "  via  regni," 
however  little  the  "  causa  regnandi ;  "  though  here 
too  it  must  of  course  never  be  forgotten  that  it  is 
only  the  good  tree  which  brings  forth  good  fruit ; 
and  that  no  tree  is  good  until  Christ  has  made  it  so. 

Yer.  24.  "  But  unto  you  I  say,  and  unto  the 
rest  in  Thyatira,  as  many  as  have  not  this  doctrine, 
and  which  have  not  known  the  depths  of  Satan,  as 
they  speak  /  I  will  put  upon  you  none  other  our- 
den" — Leave  out  the  teat  with  which  the  second 


191        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.     [II.  24. 

clause  in  this  sentence  begins,  and  read,  "  But  unto 
you  I  say,  the  rest  in  Thyatira,  &c."  The  Gnos- 
tics, starting  probably  from  1  Cor.  ii.  10,  were  ever 
boasting  their  acquaintance  with  mysteries,  the 
deep  things  of  God ;  could  speak  much  about  the 
ftvOosy  "  vere  csecutientes,  qui  profunda  Bythi  ad- 
invenisse  se  dicunt "  (Irenseus  ;  cf.  Tertullian,  Adv. 
Valentin.  §  1).  A  question  is  often  here  raised, 
whether  these  evil-workers  spoke  of  "  depths  of 
Satan ;  "  or  only  of  "  depths"  while  "  of  Satan  " 
is  a  further  characteristic  of  these  " depths"  added 
by  the  Lord  Himself ;  who  thus  intimates  with  a 
keen  irony  what  was  the  real  character  of  those 
"  depths  "  into  which  they  professed  themselves  to 
have  entered,  and  into  which  they  sought  to  guide 
others.  In  this  last  way  the  words  are  generally 
understood,  the  Lord  declaring  what,  in  his  all- 
seeing  eye,  was  the  true  nature  of  the  fieyaXopprj- 
/jLoavvcu  (such  Ignatius,  Ep.  ad  Ephes.  10,  calls 
them),  the  "  great  swelling  Words  of  vanity " 
which  these  Gnostics  vented  ;  promising  liberty  to 
others,  being  themselves  servants  of  corruption.  I 
should  be  disposed,  however,  to  think  with  Heng- 
stenberg,  that  it  was  they  themselves  who  talked 
of  "  depths  of  Satan" — the  position  of  a>?  Xeyovai, 
seems  to  imply  as  much, — that  in  that  fearful  so- 
phistry wherein  they  were  such  adepts,  and  where- 
by they  sought  to  make  a  religion  of  every  corrupt 


II.  24]  THTATIEA,   KEY.   II.   13-29.  195 

inclination  of  the  natural  mind,  they  talked  much 
of  "  depths  of  Satan"  which  it  was  expedient  for 
them  to  fathom.  We  know  concerning  them  how 
they  taught  that  it  was  a  small  thing  for  a  man  to 
despise  pleasure  and  to  show  himself  superior  to  it, 
while  at  the  same  time  he  fled  from  it.  The  true, 
the  glorious  victory  was,  to  remain  superior  to  it, 
even  while  tasting  it  to  the  full ;  to  give  the  body 
to  all  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  and  yet  with  all  this  to 
maintain  the  spirit  in  a  region  of  its  own,  unin- 
jured by  them  ;  and  thus,  as  it  were,  to  fight 
against  pleasure  with  the  arms  of  pleasure  itself; 
to  mock  and  defy  Satan  even  in  his  own  kingdom 
and  domain.  "We  have  an  anticipation  of  this  so- 
phistry of  sin,  with  its  flatteries  at  once  of  the  pride 
and  corruption  of  the  human  heart,  in  the  well- 
known  mot  of  Aristippus,  the  Cyrenian  philoso- 
pher, who  being  upbraided  on  the  score  of  his 
relations  with  a  Corinthian  courtesan,  defended 
himself  with  the  reply,  difficult  adequately  to  ren- 
der in  English,  "E^co  AatSa,  ou/c  e^o/nai,  vtt  avTr}<$ 
(Clemens  Alex.  Strom,  ii.  20).  Here,  however, 
were  but  the  germs  of  that  which  in  some  of  the 
Gnostics  appears  fully  blown. 

"  For  you,"  says  the  Lord,  "  who  have  not  gone 
to  this  Satanic  school,  who  have  been  content  with 
the  simple  knowledge  of  the  good,  and  not  thought 
it  needful  to  know  the  evil  as  well,  not  good  and 


196        EPISTLES   TO  THE   SEVEN   CHURCHES   IN   ASIA.     [II.  24 

evil,  but  only  good,  I  will  put  upon  you  none  other 
"burden?  If  it  be  asked,  "  none  other  burden  "  than 
what  ? — the  answer  no  doubt  is,  none  other  than  a 
continued  abstinence  from,  and  protest  against, 
these  abominations.  It  was  the  master-stroke  of 
the  antinomian  Gnostics  to  exaggerate,  to  distort, 
to  misapply,  all  which  St.  Paul  had  spoken  about 
the  freedom  of  the  Christian  man  from  the  law. 
They  were  the  ultra-Paulines,  who  caricatured  his 
doctrine,  till  of  God's  truth  they  had  made  a 
devil's  lie.  St.  Paul  had  said  of  the  law  that  it 
was  not  the  ground  of  the  Christian  man's  justifi- 
cation, nor  yet  the  source  of  his  holiness ;  they 
made  him  to  say  that  it  was  not  the  rule  of  his 
life ;  as  though  he  had  rejected  it  altogether  as  a 
burden  no  longer  to  be  borne  by  the  redeemed. 
The  Lord  takes  up  this  word  "tyirclen;" — "I  do 
lay  on  you  a  burden,  but  it  is  a  burden  which  it  is 
your  blessedness  to  bear,  and  over  and  above  which 
I  will  impose  no  other."  Compare  Matt.  xi.  30, 
where,  however,  cfcopriov,  not  /3apo?,  stands  in  the 
original,  and  Acts  xv.  28,  29,  where  f3dpo<;  occurs 
in  this  very  sense  of  abstinence  from  idol-meats 
and  fornication  ;  and  where  exactly  in  the  same 
sense,  and  almost  in  the  same  words,  the  Apostles 
declare  that  they  will  lay  on  the  faithful  of  the 
Gentiles  "  no  greater  burden  than  these  necessary 
tl  lings." 


11.25,26.]  THTATIRA,  EEV.  II.  18-29.  197 

Yer.  25.  a  But  that  which  ye  have  already  hold 
fast  till  I  come  " — It  is  on  this  condition  that  He 
will  impose  on  them  no  additional  burden.  What 
they  have  of  sonnd  doctrine,  of  holy  living,  this 
they  must  hold  fast,  must  so  grasp  it  that  none 
shall  wrest  it  from  them,  till  the  day  when  the 
Lord  shall  come,  and  bring  this  long  and  painful 
struggle  for  the  maintenance  of  his  truth  to  an 
end.  Ever  and  ever  in  Scripture,  not  the  day  of 
death,  but  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  is  put  as  the 
term  of  all  conflict. 

Yer.  26.  "  And  he  that  overcometh,  and  keepeth 
my  works  unto  the  e?id,  to  him  will  I  give  power 
over  the  nations.'''' — By  "  my  works  "  we  must  un- 
derstand, "  works  which  I  have  commanded,  in 
which  I  find  pleasure,  which  are  the  fruit  of  my 
Spirit ;  "  cf.  John  vi.  27,  where  "  works  of  God  " 
are  to  be  understood  in  the  same  sense  as  "  godly 
works."  Here  again  that  which  is  praised,  that 
which  will  be  crowned,  is  the  keeping  of  these  his 
works  to  the  end ;  for  Christ,  the  great  iiriGTaTns 
in  the  games,  of  which  the  Father  is  the  aycovo0eTw<;> 
and,  still  to  keep  the  language  of  Tertullian,  the 
Holy  Ghost  the  fuc-Tap^?,  eternal  life  the  j3pa- 
(3ehv,  promises  here  this  reward,  not  to  him  who 
enters  the  lists  and  endures  for  a  time,  but  to  him 
who,  having  begun  well,  continues  striving  law- 
fully to  the  last.     "  To  him  will  I  give  power  over 


198        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCHES  IN  ASIA.     [II.  27. 

the  nations."  The  royalties  of  Christ  shall  by  re- 
flection and  communication  be  the  royalties  also  of 
his  Church.  They  shall  reign ;  but  only  because 
Christ  reigns,  and  because  He  is  pleased  to  share 
his  dignity  with  them  (iii.  21 ;  Rom.  v.  17 ;  2  Tim. 
ii.  12).  When  we  ask  ourselves  in  what  sense,  at 
what  time,  and  in  what  form  this  "power  over  the 
nations"  shall  be  the  prerogative  of  the  Church, 
.we  must  find  our  answer  in  such  passages  as  Rev. 
xx.  4 ;  xxii.  5  ;  1  Cor.  vi.  2  ;  Ps.  cxlix.  9,  6  ;  and 
above  all  Matt.  xix.  28. ;  cf.  also  Wisd.  iii.  8. 

Yer.  27.  "  And  he  shall  rule  them  with  a  rod 
of  iron  /  as  the  vessels  of  a  potter  shall  they  be 
broken  to  shavers." — As  this  is  a  dignity  which  is 
originally  Christ's  (Ps.  ii.  9  ;  Rev.  xii.  5  ;  xix.  15), 
and  only  by  Him  made  over  to  his  servants,  it  is 
needful  first  to  inquire  what  it  means  in  respect  of 
Him  ;  and  we  may  then  understand  what  it  means 
in  respect  of  them.  The  passage  in  the  second 
Psalm  is  no  doubt  that  on  which  the  three  in  this 
Book  repose.  It  is  there,  "  Thou  shalt  break  them 
with  a  rod  of  iron  ;  "  but  this  Book  throughout  is 
in  agreement  with  the  Sej:>tuagint,  "  Thou  shalt 
ride  [iro^iaveW]  them  with  a  rod  of  iron."  The 
Hebrew  words  for  "  Thou  shalt  break  "  and  "  Thou 
shalt  rule  "  only  differ  in  their  vowels ;  their  con- 
sonants arc  identical ;  at  the  same  time  the  paral- 
lelism of  the  latter  half  of  the  verse,  "  Thou  shalt 


IL  27.]  THYATIRA,  REV.  II.  1&-29.  100 

dasli  them  in  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel,"  leaves 
no  doubt  that  "  Thou  shalt  break  "  was  the  inten- 
tion of  the  Psalmist.  Shall  we  therefore  conclude 
not  merely  that  the  Septuagint  Translators  mistook, 
which  happens  too  frequently  to  be  a  matter  to  us 
of  any  serious  wonder,  but  that  the  Lord  set  his 
seal  to  their  error  \  Not  so  ;  He  indeed  accepts 
the  pregnant  and  significant  variation  which  they, 
intentionally*  or  unintentionally,  drew  out  of  the 
language  before  them  ;  and  which  was  justified  by 
the  root  common  to  both  words  ;  and  instead  of  the 
mere  unmingled  judgment  which  lay  in  the  passage 
as  it  originally  stood  in  that  Psalm,  He  expresses 
by  it  now  judgment  mingled  with  mercy,  judgment 
behind  which  purposes  of  grace  are  concealed,  and 
only  waiting  their  due  time  to  appear.  Such  a 
iraihevTLKrj  ivipyeia,  as  Theodoret  terms  it,  must  be 
recognized  in  the  TroifAcuveiv  ;  which  our  "  Thou 
shalt  rule"  and  the  Latin  "  reges,"  only  imper- 
fectly give  back  ;  as,  in  regard  of  the  Latin, 
Hilary  (in  Ps.  ii.)  urged  long  ago  :  "  Keges  eos  in 
virga  ferrea ;  quanquam  ipsum  reges  non  tyranni- 
cum  neque  injustum  sit,  sed  ex  sequitatis  ac  mode- 
rationis  arbitrio  regimen  rationale  demonstret, 
tamen  molliorem  adhuc  regentis  affectum  propri- 
etas,  Grssca  significat.  Quod  enim  nobiscum  est, 
reges  eos,  cum  illis  est  TroifiaveZs  avrovs,  id  est,  pas- 
tor aliter  reges,  regendi  scilicet  eos  curam  afFectu 


200        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.      [II.  27. 

pastoris  habiturus."  For  a  still  tenderer  use  of 
TroifAciLveiv  see  John  xxi.  16  ;  Acts  xx.  28.  I  do 
not  in  the  least  mean  to  affirm  that  the  words  do 
not  contain  a  threat  for  the  nations ;  but  it  is  a 
threat  of  love.  Christ  shall  rule  them  with  a 
sceptre  of  iron  to  make  them  capable  of  being 
ruled  with  a  sceptre  of  gold ;  severity  first,  that 
grace  may  come  after ;  they  are  broken  in  pieces, 
that  they  may  know  themselves  to  "be  but  men ; 
that,  their  fierceness  and  pride  being  brought 
down,  they  may  accept  the  yoke  of  Christ  (Ps. 
lxxxiii.  16).  And  indeed  how  often  the  great  trib- 
ulations of  a  people  have  been  the  rn-po7rcu$eia, 
through  which  the  Son  of  God  has  broken  their 
pride,  and  made  them  capable  of  receiving  his 
gospel,  which,  but  for  this,  they  would  in  their 
presumption  and  self-confidence  have  rejected  to 
the  end. 

Our  Translators  have  only  rendered  pdfiSos  by 
1  sceptre '  on  a  single  occasion  in  the  Kew  Testa- 
ment (Heb.  i.  8).  It  were  to  be  wished  they  had 
done  so  here,  and  at  xii.  5  ;  xix.  15.  The  word  in 
the  second  Psalm  tsati  has  this  meaning ;  cf.  Ps. 
xliv.  8,  where  in  like  manner  it  occurs  ;  and  every 
thing  else  speaking  of  royalty  here,  this  should  do 
the  same.  It  may  be  urged,  indeed,  that  royal 
sceptres  are  not  usually  of  iron,  but  of  wood  over- 
gilded, or  of  silver,  or  of  gold.     This  may  be  quite 


II.  27.]  THYATIEA,  REV.  II.  18-29.  201 

true,  but,  if  so,  only  makes  more  striking  the  excep- 
tion in  the  present  instance.  "  He  shall  rule  them 
with  a  sceptre  of  iron"  which,  harder  and  stronger 
than  any  other,  shall  dash  them  who  oppose  them- 
selves to  it  in  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel ;  this  image 
implying  the  ease  with  which  all  resistance  shall  be 
overcome,  the  utter  destruction  which  shall  over- 
take all  them  who  attempt  it  (Jer.  xix.  11 ;  Isai. 
xxx.  14).  Ewald  :  "  Imago  regis  hostes  suos  facil- 
lima  opera  conterentis  et  dispergentis." 

"  Even  as  I  received  of  my  Father" — There  was 
one  who  offered  to  inaugurate  Him  at  once  in  the 
possession  of  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the 
glory  of  them  ;  and  the  Lord  had  put  back  him  and 
his  offer  with  indignation  (Luke  iv.  5-8),  not  because 
these  were  not  his  just  expectation  and  his  due  in- 
heritance ;  but  because  He  would  receive  them  at 
no  other  hands  than  his  Father's.  And  now  we  find 
that  He  has  received  them  at  these  hands,  and  they 
are  his ;  his  to  impart  to  his  servants ;  and  that 
which  was  a  lying  boast  on  the  lips  of  the  usurper, 
that  he  could  give  them  to  whom  he  would,  is  a 
truth  on  the  lips  of  the  rightful  Lord.  Even  while 
upon  earth  He  could  say  to  his  own  (and  the  words 
constitute  a  very  remarkable  parallel  to  these), 
"  I  appoint  unto  you  a  kingdom,  as  my  Father 
hath  appointed  unto  Me  "  (Luke  xxii.  29).  Eich- 
ard  of  St.  Victor :    "  Magna  promissio,  magnum 


202        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCHES  IN  ASIA.     [II.  28. 

domim :  hoc  promittit,  hoc  tribuit,  quod  Ipse  ac- 
cepit." 

Ver.  28.  "  And  I  will  give  him  the  morning 
star." — Compare  xxii.  16,  where  the  Lord  Himself 
is  "  the  bright  and  morning  star  "  (o  aarrjp  6  \afx- 
irpos  6  7rpa)'iv6<;).  "Whether  He  is  meant  by  "  the 
day-star "  (cjxoacpopos)  of  1  Pet.  ii.  19,  may  be  a 
question.  This  star,  as  light-bringer,  herald  and 
harbinger  of  day,  goes  by  many  names ;  it  is  ao-rrjp 
£gl)6lv6<5  (Ecclus.  1.  6),  6  icocrcfrcpos  6  7rpcoi'  avareWcov 
(Isai.  xiv.  12,  "  Lucifer,  son  of  the  morning,"  E.  Y.), 
the  beauty  and  transcendant  brightness  of  it  being 
continually  celebrated  by  poets,  as  by  Homer  (II. 
xxii.  317) ;  by  Virgil  {/En.  viii.  389) ;  by  Ovid 
(Trist.  i.  3.  71 :  "  coelo  nitidissimus  alto  "),  and  by 
Milton  (Par.  Lost,  iv.  605  : 

"  Hesperus,  that  led 
The  starry  host,  rode  brightest "). 

So  does  the  Lord  claim  all  that  is  fairest  aud  love- 
liest in  creation  as  the  faint  shadow  and  image  of 
his  perfections.  A  comparison  with  that  other  pas- 
sage in  this  Book  referred  to  already  (xxii.  16)  con- 
clusively proves  that  when  Christ  rjromises  that  He 
will  give  to  his  faithful  ones  the  morning  star/He 
promises  that  He  will  give  to  them  Himself,  that 
He  will  impart  to  them  his  own  glory  and  a  6hare 
in  his  own  royal  dominion  (cf.  iii.  21) ;  for  the  star, 


II.  29.]  THTATIEA,  EEV.  II.  1S-29.  203 

as  there  has  been  already  occasion  to  observe,  is 
evermore  the  symbol  of  royalty  (Matt.  ii.  2),  being 
therefore  linked  with  the  sceptre  (Num.  xxiv.  17). 
All  the  glory  of  the  world  shall  end  in  being  the 
glory  of  the  Church,  if  only  this  abide  faithful  to  its 
Lord. 

Yer.  29.  "  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear 
what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  Churches"  Com- 
pare ii.  7. 


V. 

EPISTLE  TO  THE  CHURCH  OF  SARDIS. 

Key.  iii.  1-6. 


Ver.  1.  "  And  unto  the  Angel  of  the  Church  in 
Sardis  write." — Sardis,  now  Sart,  was  situated  on 
the  side  of  mount  Tmolus,  and  on  the  river  Pactolus. 
The  ancient  capital  of  Lydia,  the  kingdom  of  Croe- 
sus, it  maintained  a  certain  portion  of  its  old  dignity 
and  splendour  in  the  time  o£  the  Persians,  and  had 
not  wholly  lost  it  in  the  Eoman  period.  For  the 
things  in  which  the  Sardians  gloried  the  most,  see 
Tacitus,  Annal.  iv.  55. 

"  These  things  saith  lie  that  hath  the  seven  Spir- 
its of  God,  and  the  seven  stars." — There  has  been 
already  occasion  to  speak  of  "  the  seven  Spirits  of 
God"  and  to  claim  for  these  that  they  in  this  com- 
plex can  set  forth  no  other  than  the  one  Holy  Spir- 
it, the  third  Person  of  the  ever-blessed  Trinity,  in 
his  sevenfold  operation  (i.  4).  All  that  remains 
then  is  to  consider  the  relation  in  which  Christ,  dc- 


H.  1.]  SARDIS,  EEV.  III.  1-6.  205 

daring  that  it  is  He  "that  hath  the  seven  Spirits  of 
God"  claims  to  stand  to  these  seven.  How  entirely 
He  "  hath  "  them,  by  how  close  a  right  they  are 
his,  may  best  be  understood  by  the  comparison  of 
other  words,  presently  occurring  in  this  same  Book ; 
"  I  beheld  a  Lamb  as  it  had  been  slain,  having  seven 
horns  and  seven  eyes,  which  are  the  seven  Spirits  of 
God  sent  forth  into  all  the  earth  "  (v.  6  ;  cf.  Zech. 
iii.  9  ;  iv.  10).  It  need  hardly  be  observed  how  im- 
portant a  witness  this  verse,  when  the  right  inter- 
pretation of  "  the  seven  Spirits  "  has  been  seized, 
bears  to  the  faith  of  the  "Western  Church  on  that 
great  point  upon  which  it  is  at  issue  with  the  East- 
ern, in  respect,  namely,  of  the  procession  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  He  is  indeed  the  Spirit  of  the  Father 
and  the  Son,  The  Son  "  hath  the  seven  Sjririts"  or 
the  Spirit ;  not  because  He  has  received  ;  for  though 
it  is  quite  true  that  in  the  days  of  his  flesh  He  did 
receive  (Matt.  iii.  16  ;  John  iii.  34  ;  Heb.  i.  9) ;  yet 
now  it  is  the  Son  of  God,  a  giver  therefore,  and  not 
a  receiver,  who  is  speaking  ;  who  "  hath  "  the  Spir- 
it ;  "  hath  "  to  the  end  that  He  may  impart  it.  If, 
too,  the  Spirit  be  admitted  to  be  God,  then  the  Son, 
who  "  hath  "  the  Spirit,  must  be  God  likewise  ;  as 
is  well  argued,  though  not  with  reference  to  this 
particular  verse,  by  Augustine  )  De  Trin.  xv.  26) : 
"  Quomodo  Deus  non  est,  qui  dat  Spiritum  Sanc- 
tum ?    Immo  quantus  Deus  est,  qui  dat  Deum  ? " 


206        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.       [II.  L 

There  is  a  special  fitness  in  the  assumption  of  this 
style  by  the  Lord  in  his  address  to  the  Angel  of  the 
Church  of  Sardis.  To  him  and  to  his  people,  sunken 
in  spiritual  deadness  and  torpor,  the  lamp  of  faith 
waning  and  almost  extinguished  in  their  hearts,  the 
Lord  presents  Himself  as  one  having  the  fulness  of 
all  spiritual  gifts ;  able  therefore  to  revive,  able  to 
recover,  able  to  bring  back  from  the  very  gates  of 
spiritual  death,  those  who  would  employ  the  little 
last  remaining  strength  which  they  still  retained,  in 
calling,  even  when  thus  in  extremis,  upon  Him. 

" And  the  seven  stars" — This  is  the  only  ap- 
proach to  a  repetition  in  the  titles  of  the  Lord 
throughout  all  the  Epistles.  He  has  already  de- 
clared Himself  "  lie  that  holdeth  the  seven  stars  in 
his  right  hand  "  (ii.  1),  and  now  "  He  that  hath  the 
seven  stars."  But  "  the  seven  stars  "  are  brought 
there  and  here  into  entirely  different  combinations. 
There  "  He  that  holdeth  the  seven  stars  "  is  set  forth 
as  the  same  "  who  walketh  in  the  midst  of  the  seven 
golden  candlesticks  ;  "  here  "  He  that  hath  the  seven 
Spirits  of  God  "  hath  also  "  the  seven  starsP  But 
since  "  the  stars  are  the  Angels  of  the  seven  Church- 
es "  (i.  20),  we  must  see  in  this  combination  a  hint 
of  the  relation  between  Christ,  as  the  giver  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  as  the  author  of  a  ministry  of  liv- 
ing men  in  his  Church  ;  this  ministry  of  theirs  rest- 
ing wholly  on  these  gifts,  even  as  the  connexion  be- 


III.  1.]  SARDIS,   REV.  III.  1-6.  207 

tween  the  two  is  often  brought  out  in  the  New 
Testament.  Of  course  the  locus  classicus  on  this 
matter  is  Ephes.  iv.  7-12  ;  but  compare  further  John 
xx.  22,  23  ;  Acts  i.  8  ;  xx.  28.  His  are  the  golden 
urns  from  which  these  "  stars "  must  continually 
draw  their  light.  They  need  not  fear  to  be  left  desti- 
tute of  his  manifold  gifts,  for  his  is  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  all  his  sevenfold  operations,  with  which  ever- 
more to  furnish  them  to  the  full. 

"  I  hiow  thy  works,  that  thou  hast  a  name  that 
thou  livest,  and  art  deadP — A  passage  which  at  once 
suggests  itself  as  parallel  to  this,  is  1  Tim.  v.  6, 
where  St.  Paul,  of  a  woman  living  in  pleasure,  says, 
%axra  ridvrjfce ;  and  compare,  in  the  same  sense, 
Matt.  viii.  22  ;  Luke  xv.  24 ;  Eom.  vi.  13  ;  Ephes. 
ii.  1,  5  ;  Heb.  vi.  1 ;  ix.  14.  Bengel  suggests, 
though  indeed  earlier  commentators  had  anticipated 
the  suggestion,  that  the  name  of  this  Angel  may 
have  contained  some  assertion  of  life  ;  which  stood 
in  miserable  contradiction  with  the  realities  of  death 
which  the  Lord  beheld  in  him ;  a  name  therefore 
which  in  his  case  was  not  the  utterance  of  a  truth, 
but  a  lie  ;  no  nomen  et  omen,  but  the  reverse  ;  the 
name  affirming  and  implying  that  he  was  alive, 
while  in  truth  he  was  dead  ;  ZaxrijjLo<;  would  be  such 
a  name  in  Greek,  Yitalis  in  Latin.  Hengstenberg 
considers  the  suggestion  not  improbable ;  it  appears 
to  me  exceedingly  improbable  and  far-fetched.     The 


208        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.       [III.  2. 

use  of  "  name  "  as  equivalent  to  fame,  reputation, 
character,  is  as  common  in  Greek  as  in  English. 
The  fact  that  Sardis  should  have  had  this  name  and 
fame  of  life  is  very  startling,  and  may  well  summon 
each  and  all  to  an  earnest  heart-searching.  There 
would  have  been  nothing  nearly  so  startling,  if 
Sardis  had  been  counted  by  the  Churches  round 
about  as  a  Church  fallen  into  lethargy  and  death. 
But  nothing  of  the  hind.  Laodicea,  we  know,  de- 
ceived herself  (iii.  17),  but  we  do  not  find  that  she 
deceived  others  ;  counted  herself  rich,  when  she  was 
most  poor ;  but  there  is  nothing  to  make  us  think 
that  others  counted  her  so  as  well ;  Sardis,  on  the 
other  hand,  had  a  name  to  live,  was  spoken  of,  we 
may  well  believe,  as  a  model  Church,  can  therefore 
have  been  by  no  means  wanting  in  the  outer  mani- 
festations of  spiritual  life ;  while  yet  all  these  shows 
of  life  did  but  conceal  the  realities  of  death  ;  so  He, 
before  whose  eyes  of  fire  no  falsehood  can  endure, 
too  surely  saw. 

Yer.  2.  "  Be  watchful,  and  strengthen  the 
things  which  remain,  that  are  ready  to  die" — 
Translate  rather,  "Become"  {what  thou  art  not 
now)  "  watchful  (ylvov  yprjyopcov)."  Compare  the 
many  passages  in  which  activity  or  vigilance  of 
spirit  is  set  forth  under  this  same  image,  often  by 
this  same  word  (Matt.  xxiv.  42,  43  ;  xxv.  13 ;  xxvi. 
41 ;  Mark  xiii.  37  ;  Acts  xx.  31 ;  1  Cor.  xiv.  13  ;  1 


III.  2.]  8AEDI3,  EEV.  III.  1-6.  209 

Thess.  v.  6  ;  1  Pet.  v.  9  ;  Eev.  xix.  15).  Almost  all 
better  commentators  are  agreed  that  to,  \oiira  here 
should  not  be  rendered  "  the  tilings  which  remain" 
"  quae  hue  usque  tibi  mansere  virtutes  "  (Ewald) ; 
but  rather,  "  the  persons  which  remain"  or  "  the 
rest"=rov<;  \olttovs,  as  many  as  are  not  yet  dead, 
though  now  at  the  point  of  death.  We  gather  from 
these  words  that,  with  few  exceptions,  the  entire 
Sardian  Church  shared  in  this  deadness  of  its  chief 
pastor ;  while  he,  in  seeking  to  revive  their  life,  to 
chafe  their  dead  limbs,  would  best  revive  and  re- 
cover the  warmth  of  his  own  (Ps.  li.  13).  Their 
present  abject  and  fallen  condition  is  excellently 
expressed  by  the  use  of  the  neuter ;  cf.  1  Cor.  i. 
26  ;  Ezek.  xxxiv.  4 ;  Zech.  xi.  9  ;  nor  indeed  need 
the  use  of  it  surprise  us,  even  without  the  sufficient 
explanation  which  this  supplies.  It  is  not  here  only 
that  (jTrjpi^eLv  is  employed  in  this  sense  of  estab- 
lishing, confirming  in  the  grace  of  God  ;  thus  com- 
pare Luke  xxii.  32  ;  Rom.  i.  11 ;  2  Thess.  iii.  3  ; 
1  Pet.  v.  10  ;  ftefiaiovv  often  occurs  in  the  same 
sense  (1  Cor.  i.  8  ;  2  Cor.  i.  21  ;  Col.  ii.  1)  ;  and 
Oefiekcovv  as  well  (Eph.  iii.  17 ;  Col.  i.  23 ;  1  Pet.  v. 
10).  This  command  to  the  Sardian  Angel  implies 
that  the  vefcpbs  el  of  ver.  1  must  not  be  taken  abso- 
lutely. The  dead  can  bury  their  dead  ;  but  this  is  all 
which  they  can  do  ;  they  must  be  themselves  alive, 
who  are  bidden  to  impart  a  savour  of  life  to  others. 


210         EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCIIE3   IN  ASIA.     [III.  & 

The  fire  of  grace  may  have  burned  very  low  in  their 
hearts ;  but  it  cannot  be  quite  extinguished ;  for 
how  in  that  case  could  they  kindle  any  flame  in 
others  ? 

"  For  I  have  not  found  thy  works  perfect  before 
God." — The  word  here  employed  is  not  that  which 
we  commonly  render  "perfect;"  not  riXeia,  but 
7re7r\npcofiiva ;  so  that  the  Lord  contemplates  the 
works  prepared  and  appointed  in  the  providence  of 
God  for  the  faithful  man  to  do  as  a  definite  sphere 
(Ephes.  ii.  10),  which  it  was  his  duty  and  his  calling 
to  have  fulfilled  or  filled  to  the  full, — the  same 
image  habitually  underlying  the  uses  of  TrXrjpovv  and 
TrXrjpovadat  (Matt.  iii.  15 ;  Kom.  xiii.  8).  This 
sphere  of  appointed  duties  the  Sardian  Angel  had 
not  fulfilled  ;  not,  at  least,  "  before  God  ;  "  for  on 
these  last  words  the  emphasis  must  be  laid.  Before 
himself  and  other  men  his  works  may  very  likely 
have  been  "perfect ;  "  indeed,  we  are  expressly  told 
that  he  had  "  a  name  to  live  "  (ver.  1)  ;  for  we  all 
very  easily  satisfy  ourselves  concerning  our  own 
works,  neither  is  it  very  difficult  to  satisfy  the  world 
concerning  them.  But  to  have  our  works  "perfect 
before  God"  to  fill  up  the  measure  of  those  that  He 
has  ordained,  so  to  have  them  Treifkvpwfiha,  that  is 
quite  a  different  and  a  far  harder  thing.  Yery  strik- 
ing and  very  searching  words  on  this  matter  are 
those  of  one  whose  own  devotion  to  his  work  gave 


III.  2.]  SAEDIS,  KEY.  III.  1-6.  211 

him  a  right  to  speak — Juan  d'Avila,  the  apostle  of 
Andalusia :  "  Tot  tantseque  sunt  pastorum  obliga- 
tions, ut  qui  vel  tertiam  earum  partem  reipsa  im- 
pleret,  sanctus  ab  hominibus  haberetur ;  cum  tamen 
eo  solo  contentus,  gehennam  non  esset  evasurus  ;  " 
and  few,  who  have  read,  will  forget  some  words  of 
Cecil  very  nearly  to  the  same  effect, — that  a  minister 
of  Christ  is  very  often  in  highest  honour  with  men 
for  the  performance  of  one  half  of  his  work,  while 
God  is  regarding  him  with  displeasure  for  the  neg- 
lect of  the  other  half. 

It  is  a  very  instructive  fact,  that  every  where 
else,  in  the  Epistles  to  all  the  Churches  save  only  to 
this  and  to  Laodicea,  there  is  mention  of  some  bur- 
den to  be  borne,  of  a  conflict  either  with  foes  within 
the  Church  or  without,  or  with  both.  Only  hi  these 
two  nothing  of  the  kind  occurs.  The  exceptions 
are  very  significant.  There  is  no  need  to  assume 
that  the  Church  at  Sardis  had  openly  coalesced  and 
joined  hands  with  the  heathen  world ;  this  would 
in  those  days  have  been  impossible  ;  nor  yet  that  it 
had  renounced  the  appearance  of  opposition  to  the 
world.  But  the  two  tacitly  understood  one  another. 
This  Church  had  nothing  of  the  spirit  of  the  Two 
"Witnesses,  of  whom  we  read  that  they  "  tormented 
them  that  dwelt  on  the  earth  "  (Kev.  xi.  10),  tor- 
mented them,  that  is,  by  their  witness  for  a  God  of 
truth  and  holiness  and  love,  whom  the  dwellers  on 


212        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEYEN  CHUKCHES   IN  ASIA.     [III.  3. 

the  earth,  were  determined  not  to  know.  There 
was  nothinr .  in  it  to  provoke  from  the  heathen,  in 
the  midst  o  whom  it  sojourned,  any  such  words  as 
those  which  die  author  of  The  Wisdom  of  Solomon 
puts  into  the  mouth  of  the  ungodly  men  (ii.  12-16). 
The  world  could  endure  it,  because  it  too  was  a 
world.  On  the  not  less  significant  absence  of  all 
heretical  opposition  in  these  Churches,  there  will 
be  something  to  say  when  we  deal  with  the  Epistle 
to  Laodicea. 

Yer.  3.  "  Remember  therefore  how  thou  hast  re- 
ceived and  heard,  and  holdfast,  and  repent" — This 
"  how  "  is  by  some  interpreters  referred  to  the  man- 
ner of  their  former  receiving,  and  by  some  to  the 
matter  which  they  formerly  received  and  heard. 
!Now  if  the  character  of  the  charges  which  the  Lord 
is  making  against  Sardis  were  that  of  holding,  or 
even  tolerating,  any  erroneous  doctrine  contrary  to 
"  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,"  I  should 
certainly  be  on  their  side  who  referred  this  "  how  " 
to  the  matter,  to  the  form  of  sound  words  which 
they  had  accepted  at  the  first,  and  to  which  Christ 
would  recall  them  now ;  I  should  see  in  these 
words  a  parallel  to  such  passages  as  Col.  ii.  6  ;  1 
Tim.  vi.  10 ;  2  Tim.  i.  14.  But  the  charge  against 
Sardis  is  not  a  perverse  holding  of  untruth,  but  a 
heartless  holding  of  the  truth  ;  and  therefore  I  can- 
not but  think  that  the  Lord  is  graciously  reminding 


III.  3.]  SAJJDIS,  EEV.  IIL   1-6.  213 

lier  of  the  heartiness,  the  zeal,  the  lore  with  which 
she  received  this  truth   at  the  first,  ,,  There  was 
great  joy  in  that  city,  no  doubt,  then    7but  now  all 
was  changed.     Compare  St.  Paul  to  .,  ie  Thessalo- 
nians,  1  Ep.  i.  5-10,  where,  however,  there  is  no  such 
painful  comparison  to  draw  between  their  present 
and  their  past ;  also  the  same  Apostle  to  the  Gala- 
tians  (iv.  13-15),  a  completer  parallel  rfo  the  words 
before  us,  St.  Paul  contrasting  there vtheir  present 
disaffection  and  coldness  of  heart  toward  him  and 
the  Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  which  he  brought, 
with  the  zeal  and  warmth  and  love  wherewith  they 
first  received   these   glad  tidings  at  his   lips,  the 
"  how  "  of  their  present  holding  with  the  "  how  " 
of  their  past  receiving.     At  the   same  time,  this 
their  joyful  loving  acceptance  of  the  truth  in  times 
past  is  only  one-half  of  the  "  how  "  of  their  receiv- 
ing it.     They  are  bidden,  no  doubt,  in  these  words 
to  remember  as  well  "  how  "  that  truth  itself  came, 
that  they  might  receive  it ;  with  what  demonstra- 
tion of  the  Spirit  and  of  power  from  the  lips  of  those 
ambassadors   of  Christ,  whoever  they   may   have 
been,  who  first  brought  it  to  Sardis  ;   how  holily, 
how   unblamably  these  went   in   and   out  among 
them.     And   remembering  all   this,  let   them  not 
guiltily  let  that  go,  which  came  so  commended  to 
them,  which  was  so  joyfully  embraced  by  them,  but 
rather  hold  it  with  a  firm  grasp.     "  Prize  now  " 


214        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.      [III.  a 

— tins  is  what  Christ  would  say — "  that  which  thou 
didst  once  prize  so  highly,  which  came  to  thee  so 
plainly  as  a  gift  from  God,  accompanied  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  from  heaven ;  and  repent  thee  of  all 
the  coldness  and  heartlessness  with  which  thou  hast 
learned  to  regard  it "  (2  Pet,  i.  9). 

"  If  therefore  thou  shalt  not  watch,  I  will  come 
on  thee  as  a  thief  and  thou  shalt  not  know  what 
hour  I  will  come  upon  thee." — Augustine  has 
pointedly  said,  "  Latet  ultimus  dies,  ut  observetur 
omnia  dies."  But  should  this  Angel  refuse  thus  to 
observe  and  watch,  the  Lord  takes  up  against  him 
and  repeats  here  his  own  words,  twice  spoken,  with 
slight  variations,  in  the  days  of  his  ministry  on 
earth  (Matt.  xxiv.  42,  43  ;  Luke  xii.  39,  40) ;  words 
which  must  have  profoundly  impressed  themselves 
on  those  who  heard  them,  and  on  the  early  Church 
in  general,  as  is  evidenced  from  the  frequent  refer- 
ences to  them  in  other  parts  of  the  New  Testament ; 
as  by  St.  Paul  (1  Thess.  v.  2,  4) ;  by  St.  Peter  (2 
Ep.  iii.  10) ;  and  by  St.  John  (Kev.  xvi.  15).  It  is 
the  stealthiness  of  Christ's  advent,  and  thus  his 
coming  upon  the  secure  sinner  when  least  He  is 
looked  for,  which  is  the  point  of  the  comparison, 
not  the  violent  taking  away  of  the  worldling's 
goods.  In  that  case,  he  would  be  the  'krjcTr^ 
rather  than  the  /cXeTrrns,  the  robber,  and  not  the 
thief  which  here  he  is  (cf.  Matt.  xxiv.  36-51  ;  xxv. 


IIL  4.]  SAKDIS,  KEY.  III.  1-6.  215 

13).  The  grand  Greek  proverb,  which  affirmed 
that  the  feet  of  the  avenging  deities  were  shod 
with  wool,  awfully  expressed  the  sense  which  the 
heathen  had  of  this  noiseless  approach  of  the  divine 
judgments,  of  their  possible  nearness  at  the  mo- 
ment when  they  were  supposed  the  furthest  off. 
So  too  in  those  sublime  lines  of  ^Eschylus,  the  very 
turn  of  the  phrase  in  the  conclusion  reminds  one  of 
these  words  of  Christ : 

Sonets  rot  6ea>v  <tv  £vvera  viKrja-ai  nore, 

KCli  TTjV  b'lKrjV  TTOV  pOLKp     UTrOK€L<j6al  /3pOTt3j/  ', 

tj  S'  eyyvs  iariv,  ov%  opcopevrj  §'  opa, 

ov  xprj  Ko\a£eii>  r ,  oi'Sei/  •  aXX   ovk  otcroa  av} 

oiTorav  a<pv<0  pokovaa  SioXeVfl  ko.kovs. 

Ver.  4.  "  Thou  hast  a  few  names  even  in  Sar- 
dis  which  have  not  defiled  their  garments." — 
"  Names "  cannot  here  be  slightingly  used,  any 
more  than  at  Acts  i.  15  ;  cf.  Eev.  xi.  13  ;  it  must 
be  simply  equivalent  to  persons  ; — or  there  may  be 
a  tacit  reference  to  ver.  1.  The  Angel  of  Sarclis 
had  a  name  that  he  lived,  and  was  dead  ;  but  there 
were  some  there,  however  few,  whose  names  were 
more  than  names ;  who  had  not  merely  the  form 
of  godliness  (2  Tim.  iii.  5,  [xop^axTt^  there  =  ovofxa 
here),  but  the  power.  It  is  very  beautiful  to  ob- 
serve the  gracious  manner  in  which  the  Lord  recog- 
nizes and  sets   his   seal  of  allowance  to  the  good 


216         EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.     [III.  4. 

which  any  where  He  finds.  Abraham  said,  "  to 
slay  the  righteous  with  the  wicked,  that  be  far 
from  Thee  "  (Gen.  xviii.  25) ;  but  it  is  far  from 
Him  even  to  seem  to  include  the  righteous  and  the 
wicked  in  a  common  blame.  He,  the  same  who 
delivered  Noah,  a  preacher  of  righteousness,  from 
the  destruction  of  the  old  world,  who  drew  just  Lot 
out  of  Sodom,  who  could  single  out  from  the  whole 
wicked  family  of  Jeroboam,  and  take  from  the  evil 
to  come,  Ahijah,  for  some  good  thing  toward  the 
Lord  his  God  which  was  found  in  him  (1  Kings 
xiv.  13),  beholds  the  few  faithful  in  Sardis  that  had 
not  defiled  their  garments,  will  not  suffer  them  to 
suppose  that  they  are  overlooked  by  Him,  or  that 
his  condemnation  was  intended  to  include  them. 
The  "  garments  "  which  these  are  thus  declared  not 
to  have  "  defiled"  are  not  to  be  identified  with  the 
"  white  raiment "  of  the  next  verse,  nor  with  the 
"  white  "  in  the  next  clause  of  this.  That  "  white 
raiment "  there  is  the  garment  of  glory, — this  the 
garment  of  grace.  That  incapable  of  receiving  a 
stain,  being  part  of  an  inheritance  which  in  all  its 
parts  is  ufiiavTo^  (1  Pet.  i.  4)  ;  this  something  to 
which  gttZXol  (Ephes.  v.  27  ;  James  iii.  6),  fitdar- 
fiara  (2  Pet.  ii.  20),  fioKvafioi  (2  Cor.  vii.  1),  can 
only  too  easily  adhere.  That  keeping  itself,  for 
nothing  that  dcfilcth  entereth  the  place  where  it  is 
worn  (Pev.  xxi.  27) ;  this  needing  to  be  kept,  and 


III.  4.]  SAEDI3,   REV.  III.  1-6.  217 

above  all  keeping  (Eev.  xvi.  15),  if  the  glory  and 
brightness  of  it  is  not  quite  to  disappear.  This, 
itself  a  wedding  garment  (Matt.  xxii.  11,  12),  but 
not  necessarily  identical  with  "  the  fine  linen,  clean 
and  white,  the  righteousness  of  saints  "  (Rev.  xix. 
8),  is  put  on  at  our  entrance  by  baptism  into  the 
kingdom  of  grace ;  that  at  our  entrance  by  the 
resurrection  into  the  kingdom  of  glory. 

There  were  those  at  Sardis,  a  little  remnant, 
who  had  thus  kept  their  garments  ;  or,  according 
to  the  testimony  of  Christ,  had  "  not  defiled  "  them. 
Absolutely,  and  in  the  highest  sense,  no  one  has 
thus  kept  his  garments,  save  only  He  who  received 
more  than  a  garment  of  grace  at  baptism  ;  having 
been  sanctified  from  his  conception,  and  thus  a 
"  holy  thing "  (Luke  i.  35)  from  the  very  first. 
But,  in  a  secondary  sense,  and  as  compared  with 
too  many  others,  there  are  those  who  have  not  de- 
filed these  garments ;  the  phrase  is  equivalent  to 
St.  James's  "  keeping  oneself  unspotted  from  the 
world  "  (i.  27).  These  are  they  who,  if  they  do 
contract  any  defilement  upon  these,  yet  suffer  it 
not  to  harden  or  become  ingrained  there ;  but  go 
at  once  to  the  fountain  open  for  all  uncleanness, 
wash  their  garments  and  make  them  white  again 
in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  (Rev.  vii.  14).  MoXvveiv 
differs  from  fiialveiv,  as  "  inquinare "  from  "  ma- 
culare,"  being  not  so  much  to  stain  as  to  besmear 

10 


218        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCHES  IN  ASIA.      [III.  4. 

or  besmirch  with  impurity  (Cant.  v.  3  ;  Gen. 
xxxviii.  31).  It  is  with  reference  to  this  word  that 
Hengstenberg  is  convinced  we  are  to  find  a  covert 
allusion  here  to  the  name  of  this  city,  Sardis  or 
Sardes,  which  is  so  near  to  sordes  /  Christ  saying 
that,  with  the  few  exceptions  which  He  has  made, 
Sardes  is  become  sordes  ("  Sardes  ist  sordes  ge- 
worden  ").  But  a  Latin  pun  in  the  Apocalypse  ! 
A  Hebrew,  or  even  a  Greek,  play  on  words  would 
be  very  conceivable  in  these  Epistles ;  indeed,  I 
am  convinced  that  there  is  one  in  the  name  "  Nico- 
laitans,"  given  to  the  libertines  of  the  apostolic 
period  (see  ii.  G).  A  deep  sense  of  the  significance 
of  words  and  names  will  often  find  its  utterance  in 
such  ;  but  a  Latin  pun,  and  that  without  the  slight- 
est hint  to  set  any  looking  for  it,  is  about  the  un- 
likeliest  thing  in  the  world  to  encounter  there. 
Not  a  few  expositors,  bringing  this  passage  into 
connexion  with  Jude  23,  find  reference  in  both  to 
those  ceremonial  uncleannesses  spoken  of  Lev.  xv. 
and  elsewhere,  which  so  very  easily  may  be  moral 
uncleannesses  as  well,  I  do  not  think  this  to  lie  in 
the  words  ;  but  that  every  defilement  (jiokvo-jjLos)  of 
the  flesh  and  spirit  (2  Cor.  vii.  1)  is  here  intended. 

"And  they  shall  wcdk  with  Me  in  white" — 
Here  are  many  promises  in  one.  The  promise  of 
life,  for  only  the  living  walk,  the  dead  are  still ;  of 
liberty,  for  the  free  walk,  and  not  the  fast  hound, 


III.  4.]  SAEDIS,  EEV.  III.  1-C.  219 

Much  more  too  we  may  find  in  these  words,  "  they 
shall  walk  in  white"  than  if  it  had  been  merely 
said,  "  they  shall  be  clothed  in  white."  The  grace 
and  dignity  of  long  garments  only  appears,  at  least 
only  appears  to  the  full,  when  the  person  wearing 
them  is  in  motion ;  cf.  Luke  xx.  46  :  "  the  scribes 
desire  to  walk  in  long  robes."  And  all  this  has  its 
corresponding  truth  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
God's  saints  and  servants  here  in  this  world  of 
grace,  and  no  doubt  also  in  that  world  of  glory, 
are  best  seen  and  most  to  be  admired  when  they 
are  engaged  in  active  services  of  love.  And  such 
they  shall  have.  They  shall  walk  (cf.  Zech.  iii.  7) 
with  their  Lord,  shall  be  glorified  together  with 
Him  (Rom.  viii.  17 ;  John  xvii.  21)  ;  his  servants 
shall  serve  Him  (Rev.  xxii.  3). 

"  For  they  are  worthy." — God's  Word  does  not 
refuse  to  ascribe  a  worthiness  to  men  (Matt.  x.  10, 
11 ;  xxii.  8  ;  Luke  xx.  35  ;  xxi.  36  ;  2  Thess.  i.  5, 
11) ;  although  this  worthiness  must  ever  be  con- 
templated as  relative,  and  not  absolute  ;  as  ground- 
ing itself  on  God's  free  acceptance  of  an  obedience 
which  would  fain  be  perfect,  even  while  it  actually 
is  most  imperfect,  and  on  this  his  acceptance  and 
allowance  of  it  alone.  There  are  those  who  "  are 
worthy"  according  to  the  rules  which  free  grace 
has,  although  there  are  none  according  to  those 
which  strict  justice  might  have,  laid   down ;   and 


220        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES   IN  ASIA.      [III.  5. 

God  is  "  faithful "  (1  John  i.  9),  in  that  having  laid 
these  rules  down,  He  will  observe  and  abide  by 
them.  Yitringa  well :  "  Dignitas  hie  notat  pro- 
portionern,  et  congruentiam,  qu&3  erat  inter  statum 
gratia?  quo  fuerant  in  his  terris,  et  glorias  quam 
Dominus  ipsis  deereverat,  wstimandam  ex  ipsa  lege 
graticB."  There  is  another  very  fearful  "  They  are 
worthy  "  in  this  Book  (xvi.  6),  where  no  such  ob- 
servation would  need  to  be  made,  where  no  such 
mitigation  of  the  word's  force  would  be  required ; 
for  see  the  antithesis  between  death  as  the  wages 
{o^roivia)  of  sin,  arid  eternal  life  as  the  gift  {^dpLajid) 
of  God,  Rom.  vi.  23. 

Ver.  5.  "  lie  that  overcometh,  the  same  shall  he 
clothed  in  white  raiment." — A  repetition  of  the 
promise  of  the  verse  preceding.  They  who  have 
kept  their  garments  here,  as  a  few  in  Sardis  to 
whom  the  Lord  bears  testimony  (ver.  4)  had  done, 
shall  have  brighter  garments  given  to  them  there, 
"  vestes  vita3,"  as  in  the  book  of  Enoch  they  are 
called.  Of  white  as  the  colour  of  heaven,  and  of 
white  garments  as  shining  ones,  there  has  been  al- 
ready occasion  to  speak  ;  see  p.  170.  Add  the 
words  of  Grotius  :  "  Xevfca  l^dria,  hoc  loco  et  infra, 
iii.  18  ;  iv.  4,  sunt  vestes  covuscantes,  ct  sic  sumc 
o-roXas  Xev/cds,  infra,  vi.  11  ;  vii.  0,  13."  It  is  not 
in  Scripture  merely  that  white  is  thus  presented  as 
the   colour  of   heaven,    and   white    garments   the 


III.  5.]  8AEDIS,  REV.  III.  1-6.  221 

suitable  investiture  of  the  blessed  inhabitants  of 
heaven.  The  same,  out  of  a  deep  inborn  symbol- 
ism, repeats  itself  in  heathen  antiquity  as  well ; 
thus  see  Plato,  Legg.  xii.  956  ;  Cicero,  Legg.  ii. 
18  ;  Yirgil,  JZn.  vi.  665  ;  Ovid,  Fast,  iii.  363  ;  iv. 
419,  420  ;  Metam.  x.  432.  As  we  cannot  conceive 
of  any  room  in  heaven  for  raiment  in  the  literal 
sense  of  the  word,  we  must  understand  by  this  that 
vesture  of  light,  that  clothing  with  light  as  with  a 
garment,  which  shall  be  theirs  who  shall  then 
"  shine  out  (ifcXdfiTJrovo-t,  Matt.  xiii.  43)  as  the  sun 
in  the  kingdom  of  their  Father ;  "  their  raiment, 
and  yet  for  all  this  not  something  external  to  them, 
but  the  outward  utterance  of  all  which  now  in- 
wardly they  are,  who  have  left  all  sin  behind  them 
for  ever.  The  glorified  'body,  defecated  of  all  its 
dregs  and  all  its  impurities,  transformed  and  trans- 
figured into  the  likeness  of  Christ's  body  (Phil.  iii. 
21),  this,  with  its  robe  and  atmosphere  of  light,  is 
itself,  I  believe,  the  "  white  raiment "  which  Christ 
here  promises  to  his  redeemed. 

I  have  alluded  already,  see  p.  147,  to  the  fre- 
quency, as  it  appears  to  me,  of  the  scoffing  side- 
glances  at  Scripture  which  occur  in  the  writings 
of  Lucian.  It  would  be  curious  to  know  whether 
he  intended  a  mock  at  this  and  at  the  glorious  hope 
of  the  Christian,  when,  relating  the  tales  current 
about  Peregrinus,  after  his  fiery  passage  in  the 


222        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.     [ILL  5. 

spirit  of  Empedocles  to  a  mock  immortality,  he 
makes  one  of  this  impostor's  followers  assure  his 
hearers  that  shortly  after  the  disappearance  of  Per- 
egrinus  in  his  funeral-pile  he  beheld  him  walking 
in  a  vjhite  garment,  shining,  and  crowned  with  a 
garland  of  olive  (iv  \evrcjj  iorOrjri  TrepnraTOvvra, 
(pcuSpov,  kotivg)  re  icrrefjifjiivov,  De  Mort.  Pereg.  40). 
One  or  two  such  passages  we  might  attribute  to 
accident ;  but  they  seem  to  me  to  occur  too  often 
for  any  such  explanation.  See  a  very  good  article 
by  Planck,  Lucian  und  das  Christenthum ,  in  the 
Theoll,  Stud,  mid  Kvit.  1851,  pp.  826-902. 

"  And  I  will  not'blot  out  Ms  name  out  of  the 
book  of  life." — It  is  much  more  than  a  simple  neg- 
ative ;  ov  fiy  i%a\etyco  =  "  nequaquam  delebo." 
We  read  of  a  "  look  of  life"  Exod.  xxxii.  32 ;  Ps. 
lxix.  29  ;  Dan.  xii.  1 ;  Phil.  iv.  3  ;  Pev.  xiii.  8  ; 
xx.  15  ;  xxi.  27  ;  of  those  "  written  among  the 
living "  (Tsai.  iv.  3) ;  and  resting  on  the  same 
image,  our  Lord  speaks  of  some  whose  names  "  are 
written  in  heaven  "  (Luke  x.  20  ;  cf.  Heb.  xii.  23). 
These  are  the  reray/iivoL  ek  farjv  of  Acts  xiii.  48. 
At  the  same  time  the  pledge  and  promise  which  is 
here  given,  implying,  as  on  the  face  of  it  it  does, 
that  there  are  names,  which,  having  been  once 
written  in  that  book,  might  yet  be  afterwards 
blotted  out  of  it,  has  proved  not  a  little  perplexing 
to  those  followers  of  Augustine,  who  will  not  be 


III.  5.]  SAUDIS,  UEV.  III.  1-6.  223 

content  in  this  mystery  of  predestination  with 
having  some  Scriptures  on  their  side,  and  leaving 
the  reconciliation  of  these  and  those  others  which 
are  plainly  against  them,  and  apparently  contra- 
dictory to  these,  for  another  and  a  higher  state  of 
knowledge ;  but  who  would  fain  make  it  appear 
that  all  Scripture  is  on  their  side  (see  Turretine's 
treatise,  De  Libro  Vitm,  pp.  9-22).  If  this  passage 
had  stood  by  itself,  it  would  not  have  been  hard 
for  them  to  answer,  as  indeed  they  do  answer,  that 
all  who  are  written  in  the  book  of  life  overcome ; 
therefore  this  promise  holds  good  for  them  all, 
and  none  who  are  there  written  have  their  names 
blotted  out  from  thence.  But,  unhappily,  beside 
and  behind  this  passage,  there  are  others  not  ca- 
pable of  this  solution,  and  principally  Exod.  xxxii. 
32  ;  Ps.  lxix.  29  ;  Eev.  xxii.  19.  To  what  hard 
shifts  they  are  put  in  forcing  these  statements 
within  the  limits  of  their  system  may  be  judged 
from  Augustine's  comment  on  the  second  of  these 
passages  {Enarr.  in  Ps.  lxix.)  :  "  Deleantur  de 
libro  viventium,  et  cum  justis  non  scribantur,  non 
sic  accipere  debemus  quod  quemquam  Deus  scribat 
in  libro  vitas,  et  deleat  ilium  ;  si  homo  dixit,  Quod 
scripsi  scripsi,  Deus  quemquam  scribit  et  clelet  ?  .  . 
Isti  ergo  quomodo  inde  delentur,  ubi  nunquam 
scripti  sunt  ?  Hoc  dictum  est  secundum  spem  ip- 
sorum,  quia  ibi  se  scriptos  putabunt.     Quid  sit,  de- 


224:        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.     [III.  5. 

leantiir  de  libro  vitas  ?     Et  ipsis  constet  non  illos 
ibi  esse." 

"  But  I  will  confess  his  name  before  my  Father, 
and  before  his  Angels." — Christ  had  spoken  when 
on  earth  of  confessing  those  who  confessed  Him,  be- 
fore his  Father  in  heaven  (Matt.  x.  32,  33),  and 
before  the  Angels  (Luke  xii.  8,  9).  That  "  in 
heaven  "  is  of  course  omitted  now,  for  there  is  no 
longer  any  contrast  between  the  Father  in  heaven 
and  the  Son  on  earth;  but  the  two  confessions, 
which  were  separated  before,  appear  united  now  ; 
and  in  general  we  may  observe  of  this  Epistle  that 
in  great  part  it  is  woven  together  of  sayings  which 
the  Lord  had  already  uttered  once  or  oftener  in  the 
days  during  which  He  pitched  his  tent  among 
men  ;  He  now  setting  his  seal  from  heaven  upon 
his  words  uttered  on  earth.  On  these  costly  mo- 
saic-works of  Scripture,  which  in  our  careless  read- 
in  £  of  it  we  so  often  overlook,  there  are  some 
beautiful  remarks  in  Delitzsch,  Commentar  iiber  den 
Psalter,  on  Ps.  cxxxv.  ;  which  is  itself,  as  are  also 
1?s.  xcvii.  xcviii.  striking  examples  of  the  skill  of 
a  divine  Artificer  herein. 

Kor  will  it  be  inopportune  to  observe  further 
what  signal  internal  evidence  this  same  fact,  an- 
alysed a  little  closer,  will  supply  on  another  point ; 
upon  this,  namely,  that  these  Epistles  are  what  they 
profess  themselves  to  be,  namely  Epistles,  directly, 


III.  5.]  SAUDIS,  REV.  III.  1-6.  225 

and  in  their  form  no  less  than  their  substance,  from 
Christ  the  Lord.  With  no  unworthy  thought  about 
their  inspiration,  we  might  very  easily  come  to  re- 
gard them  as  having  past  through  the  mind  of  St. 
John,  and  having  been  recast,  in  their  form  at  least, 
in  the  passage.  "What  they  would  have  been,  if 
they  had  undergone  any  such  modifying  process  as 
this,  St.  John's  own  Epistles  tell  us.  But  no  ;  it  is 
the  Lord  Himself  who  speaks  throughout ;  who 
not  merely  suggests  the  thoughts,  but  dictates  the 
words.  That  St.  John  is  here  merely  his  mouth- 
piece, that  the  Master  is  speaking  and  not  the 
servant,  is,  I  say,  remarkably  witnessed  for  in  the 
fact  of  the  numerous  points  of  contact  and  coinci- 
dence between  these  seven  Epistles  and  the  words 
of  Christ  as  recorded  in  the  Gospels,  in  the  three 
synoptic  Gospels  above  all.  Had  such  only  been 
found  in  St.  John's  own  Gospel,  this  might  have 
suggested  quite  a  different  explanation.  But  it  is 
mainly  the  other  Gospels  which  furnish  these.  Thus 
in  this  Sardian  Epistle  alone,  where,  it  is  true,  the 
points  of  resemblance  are  more  numerous  than  any 
where  else,  spiritual  activity  is  set  forth  as  a  watch- 
ing, ver.  3  ;  with  which  compare  Matt,  xxiv.  42  ; 
xxv.  13  ;  xxvi.  41  ;  Mark  xiii.  37.  Christ  likens  his 
unlooked-for  coming  to  that  of  a  thief  (ibid.) ;  com- 
pare Matt.  xxiv.  43  ;  Luke  xii.  39.  He  speaks  here 
of  blotting  out  a  name  from  the  book  of  life  (ver.  5), 

10* 


226        EPISTLES  TO   THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.     [III.  6. 

there  of  names  written  in  the  book  of  life  (Luke  x. 
20)  ;  here  of  confessing  his  servants  before  his 
Father  (ibid.),  with  which  the  parallels  from  the 
Gospels  have  just  been  given.  The  remarkable 
reappearance  in  this  and  in  all  these  Epistles  of  the 
words  so  often  on  our  Lord's  lips,  according  to  the 
three  first  Gospels,  but  never  noticed  in  the  fourth, 
"  He  that  hath  an  ear  to  hear,  let  him  hear  "  (Matt, 
xi.  15  ;  xiii.  9,  45  ;  Mark  iv.  9,  23  ;  vii.  16,  33  ;  Luke 
viii.  8  ;  xiv.  35),  has  been  dwelt  on  already,  p.  120. 
Yer.  6.  "  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear 
what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  ChurchesP — Com- 
pare ii.  7. 


VI. 

EPISTLE  TO  THE  CHURCH  OF  PHILADELPHIA. 

Rev.  iii.  7-13. 


Ver.  7.  "  And  to  the  Angel  of  the  Church  in, 
Philadelphia  write." — Philadelphia,  at  the  foot  of 
mount  Tmolus,  on  the  banks  of  the  little  river  Co- 
gamus,  which  not  far  from  the  city  falls  into  the 
Hermus  (Pliny,  H.  JST.  v.  29,  30),  was  built  by  At- 
talus  Philadelphia,  king  of  Pergamnm  (he  died 
b.c.  138),  from  whom  it  derives  its  name.  No  city 
of  Asia  Minor  suffered  more,  or  so  much,  from  fre- 
quent earthquakes — iroXis  aeMr/Aoov  irXrjpr}^  Strabo 
calls  it  (xiii.  4),  and  describes  it  as  almost  depop- 
ulated in  consequence  of  these.  In  the  great  earth- 
quake in  the  reign  of  Tiberius  Philadelphia  was 
nearly  destroyed  (Tacitus,  Ann.  ii.  47). 

"  These  things  saith  He  that  is  Holy." — Christ 
claims  here  to  be  6  "Ayios,  The  Holy  One  ;  cf.  Acts 
ii.  27 ;  xiii.  35  ;  Heb.  vii.  26.  In  all  these  pas- 
sages,  however,   ocrios,   not   ayios,   stands    in    the 


228        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.     [III.  7. 

original ;  nor  are  these  words  perfectly  identical, 
though  we  have  but  the  one  word  "  holy  "  by 
which  to  render  them  both.  The  ocnos,  if  a  man, 
is  one  who  diligently  observes  all  the  sanctities  of 
religion ;  anterior,  many  of  them,  to  all  law,  the 
"jus  et  fas"  with  a  stress  on  the  latter  word.  If 
applied  to  God,  as  at  Rev.  xv.  4 ;  xvi.  5,  and  here, 
He  is  One  in  whom  these  eternal  sanctities  reside ; 
who  is  Himself  the  root  and  ground  of  them.  The 
ciyLos  is  the  separate  from  evil,  with  the  perfect 
hatred  of  the  evil.  But  holiness  in  this  absolute 
sense  belongs  only  to  God  ;  not  to  Angels,  for  He 
chargeth  his  Angels  with  folly  (Job  iv.  18),  and 
certainly  not  to  men  (Jam.  iii.  2  ;  Gen.  vi.  5  ;  viii. 
21).  He  then  that  claims  to  be  "  The  Holy  One," 
— a  name  which  Jehovah  in  the  Old  Testament 
continually  claims  for  Himself, — implicitly  claims 
to  be  God  ;  takes  to  Himself  a  title  which  is 
God's  alone,  which  it  would  be  blasphemy  for  any 
other  to  appropriate,  and,  unless  we  allow  the  al- 
ternative that  He  is  guilty  of  this,  can  only  be 
accepted  as  Himself  God. 

"  He  that  is  true" — "We  must  not  confound 
a\r)0Lv6<;  (=  "  verus  ")  with  oXt]6?]<;  (=  "  verax  "). 
God  is  aXrjdrjs  (=  ayfrevhrjs,  Tit.  i.  2),  as  He  cannot 
lie,  the  truth-speaking  and  truth-loving  God  ;  with 
whom  every  word  is  Yea  and  Amen  ;  but  He  is 
dXrjdivos,  as  fulfilling  all   that  is   involved  in  the 


III.  7.]  PHILADELPHIA,  REV.  III.  T-13.  229 

name  God,  in  contrast  with  those  which  are  called 
gods,  but  which,  having  the  name  of  gods,  have 
nothing  of  the  truth,  wicked  spirits,  or  dead  idols. 
That  is  aXrjOwos  which  fulfils  its  own  idea  to  the 
highest  possible  point ;  as  Origen  (In  Joan.  torn, 
ii.  §  4)  well  puts  it :  akrjSivos,  irpos  dvrtBcaaToXrjp 
cvaa?  fcal  rvwov  teal  elfcovos.  Nor  is  a\.7]$cv6<?  only, 
as  in  this  case  of  God,  the  true  as  contrasted  with 
the  absolutely  false ;  but  as  contrasted  with  the 
subordinately  true,  with  all  imperfect  and  partial 
realisations  of  the  idea  ;  thus  Christ  is  <£ei)?  aXrjSivov 
(John  i.  9  ;  1  John  ii.  8),  a/>To?  akrjdLvo?  (John  vi. 
32),  a/^7re\o?  ak^ivrj  (John  xv.  1) ;  there  is  a 
o-Krjvrj  akr}^ivrj  in  heaven  (Heb.  viii.  2).  In  each 
of  these  cases  the  antithesis  is  not  between  the  true 
and  the  false,  but  between  the  perfect  and  the  im- 
perfect, the  idea  fully,  and  the  idea  only  partially, 
realized ;  for  John  the  Baptist  also  was  a  light 
(John  v.  35),  and  Moses  gave  bread  from  heaven 
(Ps.  cv.  40),  and  Israel  was  a  vine  of  God's  planting 
(Ps.  lxxx.  8),  and  the  tabernacle  pitched  in  the  wil- 
derness, if  only  a  figure  of  the  true,  was  yet  pitched 
at  God's  express  command  (Exod.  xxv.). 

"  He  that  hath  the  key  of  David." — Let  us  note 
here,  but  only  that  we  may  avoid  it,  a  not  uncom- 
mon error  of  interpretation,  namely,  the  identify- 
ing, or  confounding,  of  this  "key  of  David"  with 
"  the  key  of  knowledge,"  which  in  the  days  of  his 


230        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.     [III.  7. 

earthly  ministry  Christ  accused  the  Scribes  that 
they  had  taken  away  (Luke  xi.  52).  They  who 
thus  identify  the  two  regard  Him  as  here  claiming 
to  be  the  One  who  unlooses  the  seals  of  Scripture, 
opens  the  closed  door  into  its  inner  chambers  ;  who 
by  his  advent  first  made  intelligible  the  dark  and 
obscure  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  by 
his  Spirit  opens  and  enlightens  the  eyes  of  men  to 
see  and  understand  the  deep  things  which  are  writ- 
ten in  his  Word.  Into  this  erroneous  interpreta- 
tion Origen  not  unfrequently  falls,  bringing  Eev.  v. 
7-9  into  relation  with  these  two  passages  as  a  third, 
having  the  same  import ;  thus  In  Joan.  torn.  v. 
§  4 ;  Sel.  in  Psalm.  Ps.  i. ;  Hilary  no  less  {Frol.  in 
Zibr.  Psalm.  §§  5,  6) ;  and  Jerome  {Ep.  50,  de 
Stud.  Script).  ' 

"  The  Icey  "  is  of  course  here  and  elsewhere,  as 
Andreas  expresses  it,  et-ovtrlas  avfifioXov,  the  symbol 
of  power  (cf.  xxii.  1) ;  and  "  the  hey  of  David"  is 
"  the  key  of  the  house  of  David,"  of  that  royal  house- 
hold whereof  David  was  chief,  and  all  his  servants 
members.  Cocceius :  "  Clavem  Davidis  vocat,  quia 
ea  regia  clavis,  et  is  tempore  ministerii  sui  clausit  et 
aperuit,  typum  Christi  gerens ;  vide  Ps.  ci.  4-8."  Put 
David  being  a  type  of  Christ,  nay  often  his  name  be- 
ing actually  named  for  the  name  of  Christ  (Ezek. 
xxxiv.  23,  24),  "  the  house  of  David  "  alluded  to  thus 
can  mean  nothing  less  than  the  heavenly  house,  the 


III.  T.]  PHILADELPHIA,  REV.  IIL  7-13.  231 

kingdom  of  heaven ;  and  the  Lord  is,  in  fact,  declar- 
ing, "  I  have  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
Those  keys  which  He  committed  to  Peter  and  his 
fellow  Apostles  (Matt.  xvi.  19),  He  announces  to  be 
in  the  highest  sense  his  own.  It  depends  on  Him, 
the  supreme  /cXySovxos  in  the  house  of  God,  who 
shall  see  the  King's  face,  and  who  shall  be  excluded 
from  it.  Men  are  admitted  into,  or  shut  out  from, 
that  presence  according  to  the  good  pleasure  of  his 
will ;  for  it  is  He,  and  no  other,  "  that  openeth,  and 
no  man  shittteth,  that  shutteth,  and  no  man  open- 
eth." Christ  teaches  us  here  that  He  has  not  so  com- 
mitted the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  with 
the  power  of  binding  and  loosing,  to  any  other,  his 
servants,  here,  but  that  He  still  retains  the  highest 
administration  of  them  in  his  own  hands.  If  at  any 
time  there  is  error  in  their  binding  and  loosing,  if 
they  make  sad  the  heart  which  He  has  not  made 
sad,  if  they  speak  peace  to  the  heart  to  which  He 
has  not  spoken  peace,  then  his  judgment  shall  stand, 
and  not  theirs.  For  the  promise  that  He  would 
ratify  and  confirm  in  heaven  the  judgments  of  his 
Church  on  earth,  could  only  be  absolute  and  un- 
conditional so  long  as  the  Church  retained  a 
discernment  of  spirits  which  was  never  at  fault. 
When  once  this  had  departed  from  it,  when  there- 
fore it  was  liable  to  mistake  and  error,  from  that 
moment   the  promise   could   be   only  conditional. 


232        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.     [III.  7. 

From  the  highest  tribunal  upon  earth  there  lies  an 
appeal  to  a  tribunal  of  yet  higher  instance  in  heav- 
en ;  to  his,  who  opens  and  none  can  shut,  who  shuts 
and  none  can  open  ;  and  when  through  ignorance, 
or  worse  than  ignorance,  any  wrong  has  been  done 
to  any  of  his  servants  here,  He  will  redress  it  there, 
disallowing  and  reversing  in  heaven  the  erring  or 
unrighteous  decrees  of  earth.  It  was  in  faith  of 
this  that  IIus,  when  the  greatest  Council  which 
Christendom  had  seen  for  a  thousand  years  deliv- 
ered his  soul  to  Satan,  did  himself  confidently  com- 
mend it  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  many  a 
faithful  confessor  that,  at  Rome  or  Madrid,  has 
walked  to  the  stake,  his  yellow  san-henito  all  paint- 
ed over  with  devils  in  token  of  those  with  whom  his 
portion  was  to  be,  has  never  doubted  that  his  por- 
tion should  be  indeed  with  Him  who  retains  in  his 
own  hands  "  the  key  of  David  ;"  who  thus  could 
open  for  him,  though  all  who  visibly  represented 
here  the  Church  had  shut  him  out  with  extreme 
malediction  at  once  from  the  Church  militant  on 
earth  and  the  Church  triumphant  in  heaven. 

That  the  substrate  of  this  language,  and,  so  to 
say,  the  suggestion  of  this  thought,  is  to  be  sought  at 
Isai.  xxii.,  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt.  The 
Prophet  there  describes  the  removal,  indeed  the 
shameful  rejection,  of  Shebna,  the  chief  oiKovoflos 
of  the  king,  who  had  occupied  for  a  while  the  place 


III.  7.]  PHILADELPHIA,  EEV.  III.  7-13.  233 

of  highest  dignity  and  honour,  but  whom  the  Lord 
beheld  as  unworthy  of  this,  and  from  which  He  puts 
him  down  with  shame  and  dishonour,  with  the  sub- 
stitution in  his  room  of  his  servant  Eliakim,  and 
his  inauguration  into  the  honours  and  dignities 
which  the  other  had  lost.  It  needs  only  to  quoto 
the  words  as  they  occur  in  the  Septuagint :  Bccaco 
auTM  Ti)V  fc\el8a  oIkov  Aavlh  eirl  rc3  w/xw  avrou,  /ecu 
avoi^eo  /ecu  ovk  ear  at,  6  diroKkelcov,  fcal  Kkeiaei  /cal 
ovk  ecrrcu  6  avotycov.  The  Prophet  describes  all  this 
with  an  emphasis  and  fulness,  which,  however 
highly  we  may  conceive  of-  Eliakim,  is  surprising 
and  inexplicable,  until  we  look  beyond  that  present, 
and  see  in  that  Scripture  not  merely  the  history  of 
a  revolution  in  the  royal  palace  or  house  of  David, 
— a  putting  down  of  one  and  setting  up  of  another  ; 
but,  over  and  above  this,  the  type  and  real  prophe- 
cy of  something  immeasurably  greater,  the  indig- 
nant rejection  of  all  those  unworthy  stewards  who 
in  God's  spiritual  house  had  long  abused  their  posi- 
tion, and  the  exaltation  of  the  true  Steward  of  the 
mysteries  of  God,  who  should  be  faithful  in  all  his 
house,  in  their  room.  Yitringa  (Comm.  in  Esai. 
xxii.) :  "  Quae  Eliakimo  promittitur  prasrogativa 
dignitatis,  fore  ut  claves  gerens  Domus  Davidis 
clauderet  et  aperiret  solus,  et  omnis  ab  eo  suspen- 
deretur  sarcina  et  decus  Domus  Davidis  (in  quam 
hie  cadit  emphasis) :  tam  magnifice  et  ample  dictum 


234        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.     [III.  8. 

est,  ut  plus  dixisse  videretur  Propheta  quam  debe- 
bat,  si  id  in  aliquo  subjecto  nobiliore,  cujus  Eliaki- 
mus  typum  gerere  poterat,  olim  illustrius  non  con- 
sequeretur  exemplum.  Certe  sunt  verbi  prophetici 
recessns  profundi." 

Yer.  8.  "  I "know  thy  works :  behold,  I  have  set 
before  thee  an  open  door,  and  no  man  can  shut  it." 
— This  "  open  door  "  is  best  explained  by  a  reference 
to  1  Cor.  xvi.  9  ;  2  Cor.  ii.  12 ;  Acts  xiv.  27 ;  Col.  iv. 
3.  Yitringa :  "  Not  at  commodam  Evangelii  prsedi- 
candi  occasionem."  To  this  Philadelphian  Church, 
weak  probably  in  numbers,  weak  in  worldly  advan- 
tages, God  had  opened  "  a  great  door  and  effectual " 
for  the  declaring  of  his  truth ;  and,  though  there 
were  many  adversaries,  no  man  could  shut  it.  For 
was  not  lie  who  opened,  the  same  who  had  the  key 
of  David  ?  and  when  He  opened  none  could  shut, 
when  He  made  room  for  his  truth  in  the  heart  of 
one  or  of  many,  none  could  hinder  it  from  having 
free  course  and  being  glorified  ;  even  as,  if  He  shut 
and  withheld  a  blessing,  all  other  might  and  power 
would  be  wholly  unavailing  to  make  for  it  an  en- 
trance there. 

"  For  thou  hast  a  little  strength,  and  hast  kept 
my  word,  and  hast  not  denied  my  name" — They 
were  probably  but  a  little  flock,  poor  in  worldly 
goods,  of  small  account  in  the  eyes  of  men  (cf.  1 
Cor.  i.  26-28),  having  "little  strength"— -not   "a 


III.  9.]  PHILADELPHIA,  REV.  III.  7-13.  235 

little  strength"  which  would  rather  be  an  acknow- 
ledgment of  power  than  of  weakness — the  fitter 
therefore  that  God  should  be  glorified  in  them  and 
by  them ;  even  as  He  had  been ;  for,  put  to  the 
proof,  they  had  kept  his  word,  and  had  not  denied 
his  name.  The  aorists,  errjprjcras,  ovk  r^pvrjaco,  refer 
to  some  distinct  occasions  in  the  past,  when,  being 
thus  put  to  the  test,  they  had  approved  themselves 
faithful  to  Him. 

Yer.  9.  "  Behold,  I  will  make  them  of  the  syn- 
agogue of  Satan,  which  say  they  are  Jews,  and  are 
not,  but  do  lie  /  behold,  I  will  maJce  them  to  come 
and  worship  before  thy  feet,  and  to  hioio  that  1 
have  loved  thee." — Here  is  the  reward  of  their  faith- 
fulness, of  the  entrance  which  they  had  made  by 
that  open  door  which  the  Lord  set  before  them. 
The  promise  to  Philadelphia,  in  respect  of  Jewish 
adversaries,  is  larger  and  richer  than  that  to 
Smyrna.  The  promise  there  did  but  amount  to 
this,  that  these  enemies  should  not  prevail  against 
them  (ii.  9,  10) ;  but  here  are  better  promises, 
namely,  that  they  shall  prevail  against  their  en- 
emies ;  and  that  with  a  victory  the  most  blessed 
of  all,  in  which  conquerors  and  conquered  should 
be  blessed  alike,  and  should  rejoice  together.  In 
reward  of  their  faithfulness,  they  should  see  some 
of  these  fierce  gainsayers  and  opposers,  some  of 
this  "  synagogue  of  Satan  "  (see  ii.  9),  falling  on 


23G        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.     [III.  9. 

their  faces,  and  owning  that  God  was  with  them 
of  a  truth.  The  "  worsJiip  "  before  their  feet,  of 
course,  does  not  mean  more  than  this  ;  compare 
Isai.  xlix.  23  ;  lx.  14,  to  which  last  verse  is  man- 
ifest allusion  here.  It  is  only  some  of  them  who 
shall  worship  thus  ;  for  there  is  no  promise  during 
the  present  dispensation  that  all  Israel,  but  only 
that  a  remnant,  shall  be  saved  (Rom.  ix.  27).  In 
our  Yersion  we  have  failed  to  express  this,  that 
they  are  only  some  of  the  synagogue  of  Satan  who 
should  thus  acknowledge  the  presence  of  God  in 
the  Church  of  his  dear  Son,  should  look  at  Him 
whom  they  had  pierced,  and  own  that  this  Jesus 
of  ISTazareth  was  indeed  He  of  whom  Moses  and  the 
Prophets  did  write,  the  promised  Messiah,  the  King 
of  Israel,  who  should  turn  iniquity  from  Jacob.  In 
connexion  with  this  promise,  there  is  an  interesting 
passage  in  the  Epistle  of  Ignatius  to  this  same  Phil- 
adelphian  Church  (c.  6),  implying  the  actual  pres- 
ence in  the  midst  of  it,  of  converts  from  Judaism, 
who  now  preached  the  faith  which  once  they  per- 
secuted. We  may  say  too  that  this  same  promise 
has  been  gloriously  fulfilled  to  other  Churches  in 
Our  own  days,  or  almost  in  our  own  days,  as  we 
call  to  mind  the-  many  of  Germany's  noblest  theo- 
logians and  philosophers,  her  !Neanders  and  her 
Stahls  ;  who,  being  of  the  stock  of  Abraham,  have 
yet  had  the  veil  taken  from  their  hearts,  and  owned 


III.  10.]  PHILADELPHIA,  KEV.  III.   7-13.  237 

of  the  Church  of  Christ  that  God  was  with  it  of  a 
truth. 

Yer.  10.  "  Because  thou  hast  kept  the  word  of 
my  patience,  I  also  will  keep  thee  from  the  hour  of 
temptation,  which  shall  come  upon  all  the  world,  to 
try  them  that  dwell  ujwn  the  earth." — "What  does 
the  Lord  exactly  mean  here  by  "  the  word  of  my 
patience  "  ?  There  are  some  who  find  reference  to 
certain  special  words  and  sayings  of  Christ's,  in 
which  He  has  exhorted  his  servants  to  patience,  or 
declared  the  need  which  they  would  have  of  it ; 
such  words  as  occur  at  Luke  viii.  15 ;  Matt.  x.  22  ; 
xxiv.  13  ;  cf.  Eev.  i.  19.  Better,  however,  to  take 
the  -whole  Gospel  as  "  the  word  of  C/wistfs  pa- 
tience" everywhere  teaching,  as  it  does,  the  need 
of  a  patient  waiting  for  Christ,  till  He,  the  waited- 
for  so  long,  shall  at  length  appear.  Observe,  "  Be- 
cause thou  hast  kept "  (irrjprja-a^),  therefore  "  I 
also  will  keep  "  {rnp^crco)  ;  the  henigna  talio  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  ;  "  because  thou  hast  kept  my 
word,  therefore  in  return  I  will  keep  thee."  The 
promise  does  not  imply  that  the  Philadelphian 
Church  should  be  exempted  from  persecutions 
which  should  come  on  all  other  portions  of  the 
Church  ;  that  by  any  special  privilege  they  should 
be  excused  from  fiery  trials  through  which  others 
should  have  to  pass.  It  is  a  better  promise  than 
this ;  and  one  which,  of  course,  they  share  with  all 


238        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCHES  IN  ASIA.    [III.  10. 

who  are  faithful  as  they  are — to  be  kept  in  temp- 
tation, not  to  be  exempted  from  temptation  (rwpelv 
i/e  not  being  here  =  rrjpeiv  airo,  Jam.  i.  27  ;  Prov. 
vii.  5  ;  cf.  2  Thess.  iii.  3)  ;  a  bush  burning,  and  yet 
not  consumed  (cf.  Isai.  xliii.  2).  They  may  take 
courage ;  the  blasts  of  persecution  will  blow ;  but 
He  will  not  winnow  his  barn-floor  with  so  rough  a 
wind  that  chaff  and  grain  shall  be  borne  away  to- 
gether. This  "  hour  of  temptatioii "  is  character- 
ized as  coming  "  upon  all  the  world,  to  try  them 
theit  dwell  upon  the  earth"  These^  according  to 
the  constant  use  of  the  Apocalypse,  include  all 
mankind,  with  the  exception  of  the  airap^rj  of  the 
Church  (vi.  10  ;  xi.  10  ;  xiii.  8,  14)  ;  who  are  al- 
ready seated  in  heavenly  places  with  Christ  Jesus. 
The  great  catastrophies  which  come  upon  the  earth 
are  "  temptations  "  to  the  world  no  less  than  to  the 
Church.  God  is  then  putting  "  them  that  dwell 
upon  the  earth "  to  proof,  whether  now  at  least 
they  will  not  repent,  and,  when  his  judgments  are 
in  the  world,  learn  righteousness,  however  they 
may  have  in  times  past  hardened  themselves 
against  Him.  So  too  such  times  of  great  tribu- 
lation are  trials  or  "temptations"  because  they 
bring  out  the  unbelief,  hardness  of  heart,  blas- 
phemy against  God,  which  were  before  latent  in 
these  children  of  this  world  ;  hidden  from  others, 
hidden  from  themselves,  till  that  "  hour  of  tempta- 


III.  11.]  PHILADELPHIA,  EEV.  III.  7-13.  239 

Hon  "  came  and  revealed  them  (Rev.  ix.  20,  21 ; 
xvi.  9,  11,  21).  Thus  Moses  speaks  of  the  plagues 
as  the  "  temptations  of  Egypt "  (Dent.  iv.  31 ;  vii. 
19 ;  xxix.  3).  They  were  such,  inasmuch  as  they 
brought  out  the  pride  and  obduracy  that  were  in 
Pharaoh's  heart  and  in  his  servants',  as  these  would 
never  have  been  otherwise  revealed  either  to  them- 
selves  or  to  others. 

Ver.  11.  "  Behold,  I  come  quickly  :  hold  that 
fast  which  thou  hast,  that  no  man  take  thy  crown? 
— This  announcement  of  the  speedy  coming  of  the 
Lord,  the  ever-recurring  key-note  of  this  Book  (cf. 
xxii.  7,  12,  20),  is  sometimes  used  as  a  word  of  fear 
for  those  who  are  abusing  the  Master's  absence, 
wasting  his  goods  and  ill-treating  their  fellow-ser- 
vants ;  careless  and  secure  as  those  for  whom  no 
day  of  reckoning  should  ever  arrive  (Matt.  xxiv. 
48-51 ;  1  Pet.  iv.  5  ;  cf.  Jam.  v.  9  ;  Rev.  ii.  5,  16) ; 
but  sometimes  as  a  word  of  infinite  comfort  for 
those  with  difficulty  and  painfulness  holding  their 
ground ;  He  that  should  bring  the  long  contest  at 
once  to  an  end  ;  who  should  at  once  turn  the  scale, 
and  for  ever,  in  favour  of  righteousness  and  truth, 
is  even  at  the  door  (Jam.  v.  7,  9  ;  Phil.  iv.  5). 
Such  a  word  of  comfort  is  this  announcement  here  : 
"  Yet  a  little  while,  and  thy  patience  shall  have  its 
full  reward  ;  only  in  the  interval,  and  till  I  come, 
hold  that  fast  which  thou  hati."     That  which  Phil- 


210         EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN   CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.    [III.  11. 

adelphia  "  Jiad"  we  Lave  just  seen — zeal,  patience, 
with  little  means  accomplishing  no  little  work : 
"  Continue  as  thou  hast  begun  ;  hold  the  beginning 
of  thy  confidence  firm  unto  the  end,  that  no  man 
take  thy  crown." 

It  may  be  needful  to  observe,  as  some  have 
misunderstood  these  last  words,  that  they  do  not 
signify,  "  Let  no  man  step  into  that  place  of  glory 
which  was  designed  for  thee  ;  "  for  example,  after 
the  manner  that  Jacob  stepped  into  Esau's  place 
(Gen.  xxv.  3-1 ;  xxvii.  36) ;  Judah  into  Keuben's 
(Gen.  xlix.  4,  8)  ;  David  into  Saul's  (1  Sam.  xvi. 
1,  13) ;  Elialdm  into  Shebna's  (Isai.  xxii.  15-25) ; 
Matthias  into  Judas's  (Acts  i.  25,  26)  ;  Gentiles 
into  the  place  of  Jews  (Bom.  xi.  11)  ;  men  into  that 
of  angels  ;  the  number  of  the  elect,  as  Gregory  the 
Great  concludes  from  these  words,  remaining  still 
the  same,  only  some  filling  the  places  which  others 
have  left  empty  {Moral,  xxxiv.  20),  and  thus  tak- 
ing their  crown.  These  received  indeed  a  crown, 
which  others  lost ;  they  did  not  take  it  (the  '  ac- 
cipiat '  of  the  Vulgate  is  wrong  here  ;  it  should  be 
rather  '  auferat ') ;  and  it  is  quite  inconceivable  that 
any  who  should  ever  himself  wear  the  crown, 
should  be  set  forth  as  taking  it  from  another.  This 
taking,  or  seeking  to  take,  the  crowns  from  others' 
brows  is  the  part,  not  of  the  good  who  would  wear 
them  on  their  own,  but  of  the  wicked  who  would 


III.  12.]  PHILADELPHIA,  KEY.  III.  7-13.  241 

have  others  discrowned  like  themselves.  Instead 
of  ascribing  to  the  words  any  such  meaning,  we 
must  regard  them  as  simply  equivalent  to  those  of 
St.  Paul :  "  Let  no  man  beguile  you  of  your  re- 
ward "  (fcaTafipafieveTG)  v/ias,  Col.  ii.  18)  ;  and  as 
giving  no  least  hint  that  what  this  Angel  lost 
another  would  gain  ;  the  crown  which  he  forfeited, 
another  would  wear.  "  Thy  crown "  is  not  the 
crown  "  which  thou  hast"  but  "  which  thou  mayest 
have  n  (cf.  2  Tim.  iv.  8  :  airoKenai  fioi  6  t?}?  §ikcll- 
ogvvt)^  crrecftavos).  "  Let  no  man,"  Christ  would 
say,  "  deprive  thee  of  the  glorious  reward  laid  up 
for  thee  in  heaven,  of  which  many,  my  adversaries 
and  thine,  would  fain  rob  thee ;  but  which  only 
one,  even  thyself,  can  ever  cause  thee  to  lose 
indeed." 

Yer.  12.  "  Him  that  overcometh  will  I  make  a 
pillar  in  the  temple  of  my  God,,  and  he  shall  go  no 
more  out" — It  need  hardly  be  said,  except  that 
some  have  denied  it,  that  this  is  a  promise,  as  are 
all  the  others,  of  future  blessedness,  belonging  not 
to  the  members  of  the  Church  militant  here  on 
earth,  but  of  the  Church  triumphant  in  heaven. 
"  Pillar  "  is  not  to  be  interpreted  here  exactly  as 
it  is  at  Gal.  ii.  9.  There  the  "  pillars  "  (arruXoi)  are 
certain  eminent  Apostles,  the  main  supports,  un- 
der Christ,  of  the  Church  in  its  militant  condition 

here  upon  earth  ;  and,  as  such,  towering  above  the 
n 


242        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.    [III.  12. 

rest  of  the  faithful.  But  there  is  no  such  compar- 
ative preeminence  indicated  here ;  as  is  evident 
from  the  fact  that  the  promise  to  every  one  of  the 
faithful,  to  each  that  has  overcome,  is,  that  he  shall 
be  made  "  a  pillar  in  the  temple  of  God ;  "  Christ 
so  speaks,  as  Jerome  (In  Gal.  ii.  9)  says  well, 
"  docens  omnes  credentes  qui  adversarium  vicerint, 
posse  columnas  Ecclesise  fieri."  To  find  any  allu- 
sion here,  as  Vitringa  and  others  have  done,  to  the 
two  monumental  pillars,  Jachin  and  Boaz,  which 
Solomon  set  up,  not  in  the  Temple,  but  in  the  open 
vestibule  before  the  Temple  (1  Kings  vii.  21 ;  2 
Chron.  iii.  15,  17),  I  must  say,  appears  to  me  quite 
beside  the  mark ;  and  if  there  were  any  question 
on  this  point,  the  words  which  follow,  "  and  he 
shall  go  no  more  out"  would  seem  perfectly  deci- 
sive upon  this  point.  The  pillars  just  named  were 
always  without  the  Temple ;  they  would  therefore 
have  served  very  ill  to  set  forth  the  blessedness  of 
the  redeemed,  who  should  be  always  within  it. 
Other  pillars  might  do  this,  but  certainly  not  these, 
which  contradicted  in  their  position  the  central  in- 
tention of  Christ's  words  here,  which  is  to  declare 
that  he  who  overcomes  shall  dwell  in  the  house  of 
God  for  ever.  "  lie  shall  go  out  no  more  ;  "  for,  as 
the  elect  angels  are  fixed  in  obedience,  and  have 
over-lived  the  possibility  of  falling,  have  attained 
what  the  Schoolmen  call  the  heata  necessitas  honi% 


ILL  12.]  PHILADELPHIA,  REV.  III.  7-13.  243 

so  shall  it  be  one  day  with  the  faithful.  Gerhard 
{Locc.  Theoll.  xxxii.  2) :  "  Erit  perpetuus  heres 
seternorum  bonoruni,  nee  ullius  eKTTTOiaews  ipsi 
imminebit  periculum,  qui  colunina  est,  symbolum 
immobilitatis  in  statu  glorias  coelestis."  Once  ad- 
mitted into  the  heavenly  kingdom,  they  are  ad- 
mitted for  ever ;  the  door  is  shut  (Matt.  xxv.  10), 
not  merely  to  exclude  others,  but  safely  to  include 
these.  In  that  heavenly  household  the  son,  every 
son  who  has  once  entered,  abideth  for  ever  (John 
viii.  35  ;  cf.  Isai.  xxii.  23) ;  so  that,  in  the  language 
of  Augustine,  "  Who  is  there  that  would  not  yearn 
for  that  City,  out  of  which  no  friend  departs,  and 
into  which  no  enemy  enters  ?  "  * 

"  And  I  will  write  upon  Mm  the  name  of  my 
God." — Christ  will  write  this  name  of  his  God  upon 
Mm  that  overcometh — not  upon  it,  the  pillar.  It 
is  true  indeed  that  there  were  sometimes  inscrip- 
tions on  pillars, — which  yet  would  be  arr/Xat  rather 
than  (ttvXol, — but  the  image  of  the  pillar  is  now 
dismissed,  and  only  the  conqueror  remains.  In 
confirmation  of  this,  that  it  is  the  person,  and  not 
the  pillar,  whom  the  Lord  contemplates  now,  we 
find  further  on  the  redeemed  having  the  name  of 
God,  or  the  seal  of  God,  on  their  foreheads  (vii.  3  ; 
ix.  4 ;   xiv.  1 ;   xxii.  4),  with  probable  allusion  to 

1  "  Quis  non  desideret  illam  Civitatem,  unde  amicus  non  exit,  quo 
inimicus  non  intrat  ?  " 


24:4:        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA-    [III.  12. 

the  golden  plate  inscribed  with  the  name  of  Je- 
hovah, which  the  High  Priest  wore  upon  his  (Exod. 
xxviii.  36-38).  In  the  "  kingdom  of  priests  "  this 
dignity  shall  not  be  any  more  the  singular  prerog- 
ative of  one,  bnt  the  common  dignity  of  all.  Ex- 
actly in  the  same  way,  in  the  hellish  caricature  of 
the  heavenly  kingdom,  the  votaries  of  the  Beast  are 
stigmatics,  with  his  name  upon  their  foreheads 
(xiii.  16,  17 ;  xvii.  5  ;  and  cf.  xx.  4). 

"  And  the  name  of  the  City  of  my  God,  which 
is  New  Jerusalem,  which  cometh  down  out  of 
heaven  from  my  God." — What  the  name  of  this 
City  is  we  are  told  Ezek.  xlviii.  35  :  "  The  Lord  is 
there."  Any  other  name  would  but  faintly  express 
the  glory  of  it ;  "  having  the  glory  of  God  "  (Kev. 
xxi.  11,  23).  He  that  has  the  name  of  this  City 
written  upon  him  is  hereby  declared  free  of  it. 
Even  while  on  earth  he  had  his  true  7ro\trevfia  iv 
ovpavols  (Phil.  iii.  20  ;  see  Ellicott  thereon),  the 
state,  city,  or  country  to  which  he  belonged  was  a 
heavenly  one  ;  but  still  his  citizenship  was  latent ; 
he  was  one  of  God's  hidden  ones ;  but  now  he  is 
openly  avouched,  and  has  a  right  to  enter  in  by  the 
gates  to  the  City  (xxii.  14).  This  heavenly  City, 
the  City  which  hath  the  foundations,  and  for  which 
Abraham  looked  (Ileb.  xi.  10;  cf.  xiii.  14),  is  but 
referred  to  here  ;  the  full  and  magnificent  descrip- 
tion of  it  is  reserved  as  the  fitting  close  of  the  Book 


III.  12.]  PHILADELPHIA,  EEV.  III.  7-13.  245 

(xxi.  10 — xxii.  5).  It  goes  by  many  and  glorious 
names  in  Scripture.  "  That  great  city,  the  holy 
Jerusalem,"  St.  John  calls  it  (xxi.  10) ;  claiming  for 
it  this  title  of  "  the  holy,"  which  the  earthly  Je- 
rusalem once  possessed  (Matt.  iv.  5),  hut  which  it 
had  forfeited  for  ever.  "  Jerusalem  which  is  above," 
St.  Paul  calls  it  (Gal.  iv.  26).  It  is  "  the  city  of  the 
living  God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem "  (Heb.  xii. 
22).  It  is  the  true  KaXXtVoXt?,  rj  avco  KaX\L7ro\is, 
as  Cyril  of  Alexandria  has  strikingly  named  it ; 
being  indeed  that  Beautiful  City,  of  which  Plato 
did  but  dream,  when  he  devised  this  name  {Rep. 
vii.  527  c).  It  is  the  OvpavoTroX^,  as  Clement  of 
Alexandria  {Peed.  ii.  12)  has  called  it,  recovering 
and  reclaiming  for  it  this  magnificent  title  ;  which 
Greek  sycophants  in  profane  flattery  had  devised 
for  another  city  {Athe?iceus,  i.  36),  one,  if  we  may 
trust  the  pictures  of  it  drawn  by  those  who  saw  it 
closest  and  knew  it  best,  far  better  deserving  a 
name  drawn  from  beneath  than  from  above. 

The  epithet  "  new"  which  is  given  here  to  the 
heavenly  City,  "  the  new  Jerusalem"  sets  it  in 
contrast  with  the  old,  worn-out,  sinful  city  bearing 
the  same  name  ;  for  kclivos  expresses  this  antithesis 
of  the  new  to  the  old  as  the  out-worn  /  thus  Katvrj 
ktlctls,  kclivos  av&pwiros,  Katvbv  Ifi&TLov  ;  while  via 
would  but  express  that  which  had  recently  come 
into  existence,  as  contrasted  with  that  which  had 


24:6        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.    [III.  12. 

subsisted  long ;  thus  Ne&TroXis,  the  city  recently 
founded.  There  would  therefore  have  been  no  fit- 
ness in  this  last  epithet  here,  for  this  New  Jeru- 
salem, "  whose  builder  and  maker  is  God,"  is  at 
once  new,  in  that  sin  has  never  wasted  it,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  oldest  of  all.  Bengel  has  well 
observed,  that  St.  John  writes  always  in  his  Gospel 
* lepocroXviJLa,  in  the  Apocalypse  always  'IepovcraXijp, ; 
and  gives,  no  doubt,  the  true  explanation  of  this : 
"  Non  temere  Johannes  in  Evangelio  omnibus  locis 
scribit  ' IepocroXv/jia  de  urbe  veteri :  in  Apocalypsi 
semper  'lepovaaXrjpb  de  Urbe  Coelesti.  'IepovcraXtffji, 
est  appellatio  Hebraica,  originaria  et  sanctior ;  Te- 
pocroXv/jLa  deinceps  obvia,  Graeca,  magis  politica." 

Strange  conclusions  have  been  drawn  from  the 
words  that  follow :  "  which  corneth  down  out  of 
heaven  from  my  GodP  The  dream  of  an  actual 
material  city  to  be  let  down  bodily  from  heaven  to 
earth,  an  "  aurea  atque  gemmata  in  terris  Jerusa- 
lem," as  Jerome  somewhat  contemptuously  calls  it 
{In  Isai.  Prcef  ad  Lib.  18  ;  and  compare  Origen, 
De  Princ.  ii.  11.  2),  has  been  cherished  in  almost 
all  times  of  the  Church  by  some,  who  have  been 
unable  to  translate  the  figurative  language  of 
Scripture  into  those  far  more  glorious  realities  of 
the  heavenly  7ro\tTe/a,  whereof  those  figures  were 
the  vesture  and  the  outward  array.  Thus  the 
Montanists  believed  that  the  New  Jerusalem  would 


III.  12.]  PHILADELPHIA,  PvEV.  III.  7-13.  247 

descend  at  Pepuza  in  Phrygia,  the  head-quarters  of 
their  sect ;  and  already,  according  to  Tertullian 
(Adv.  Marc.  iii.  24)  there  were  vouchsafed  from 
time  to  time  signs  and  prophetic  outlines  in  heaven 
of  the  city  which  should  come  down  to  earth.  For 
forty  days,  morning  and  evening,  the  splendid  vision 
and  sky-pageant  of  this  City  had  been  suspended  in 
the  sky.  But  if  only  it  be  a  City  "  in  which  right- 
eousness dwelleth,"  it  will  little  matter  whether  we 
go  to  it,  or  it  come  to  us  ;  and  in  this  shape  assured- 
ly it  will  not  come.1 

1  Glorious  things  have  been  spoken  of  this  City  of  God,  and  not 
in  the  sacred  Scriptures  only,  but  also  in  the  writings  of  uninspired 
men,  in  whose  hearts,  while  they  have  mused  on  that  Heavenly  Jeru- 
salem, the  fire  has  kindled,  and  they  have  spoken  with  their  tongues. 
Thus  our  own  "  Jerusalem,  my  happy  home,"  is  worthy  of  no  mean 
place  among  spiritual  songs.  But  the  German  and  the  Latin  hym- 
nologies  are  far  richer,  both  indeed  are  extraordinarily  rich,  in  these 
hymns  celebrating  the  glories  of  the  New  Jerusalem.  Thus  in  Ger- 
man how  lovely  is  Meyfart's  (1590-1642)  "Jerusalem,  du  hochge- 
baute  Stadt "  (Bunsen,  Gesangbuck,  no.  495) ;  but  grander  still,  and 
not  in  Bunsen's  collection,  Kosegarten's  (l^S-lSlS)  "  Stadt  Gottes, 
deren  diamantnen  Ring ; "  and  in  the  Latin,  Hildebert,  not  to  speak 
of  Prudentius  (Psychom.  823-887),  Bernard  of  Clugny  in  his  Laus 
Patrice  Ccelestis,  and  many  others,  has  set  forth  the  beauty  and  the 
blessedness  of  that  City  of  the  living  God,  and  his  own  longing  to  be 
numbered  among  the  citizens  of  it  in  verses  such  as  these  : 
"  Me  receptet  Sion  ilia, 

Sion,  David  urbs  tranquilla, 

Cujus  faber  auctor  lucis, 

Cujus  portae  lignum  cruris. 


248        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.   [III.  12. 

"  And  I  will  write  upon  him  my  new  name" — ■ 
This  "  new  name  "  is  not  "  The  Word  of  God  "  (xix. 
13),  nor  yet  "  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords  " 
(xix.  16).  It  is  true  that  both  of  these  appear  in 
this  Book  as  names  of  Christ ;  but  at  the  same  time 
neither  of  them  could  be  called  his  "  neio  name  /  " 

Cujus  muri  lapis  virus, 
Cujus  custos  Rex  festivus. 
In  hac  urbe  lux  solennis, 
Ver  ceternum,  pax  perennis : 
In  hac  odor  irnplens  coslos, 
In  hac  semper  festum  melos ; 
Non  est  ibi  corruptela, 
Non  defectus,  non  querela ; 
Non  minuti,  non  deformes, 
Omnes  Christo  sunt  conformes. 
Urbs  ccelestis,  urbs  beata, 
Super  petram  collocata, 
Urbs  in  portu  satis  tuto, 
De  longinquo  te  saluto, 
Te  saluto,  te  suspiro, 
Te  affecto,  te  requiro : 
Quantum  tui  gratulantur, 
Quani  festive  convivantur, 
Quis  affectus  eos  stringat, 
Aut  qua;  gemma  muros  pingat, 
Quis  chalcedon,  quis  jacinthus, 
Norunt  illi  qui  sunt  intus. 
In  plateis  hujus  urbis, 
Sociatus  piis  turbis, 
Cum  Moysc  £t  Eli  a, 
Pium  cantem  Alleluia." 


III.  13.]  PHILADELPHIA,  KEV.  III.  7-13.  249 

the  faithful  having  been  familiar  with  them  from 
the  beginning  ;  bnt  the  "  new  name  "  is  that  myste- 
rious, and  in  the  necessity  of  things  uncommuni- 
cated,  and  for  the  present  time  incommunicable, 
name,  which  in  that  same  sublimest  of  all  visions  is 
referred  to  :  "  He  had  a  name  written,  that  no  man 
knew,  but  He  Himself "  (xix.  12)  ;  for  none  but 
God  can  search  out  the  deep  things  of  God  (1  Cor. 
ii.  12  ;  cf.  Matt.  xi.  27 ;  Judg.  xiii.  18).  But  the 
mystery  of  this  new  name,  which  no  man  by  search- 
ing could  find  out,  which  in  this  present  condition 
no  man  is  so  much  as  capable  of  receiving,  shall  be 
imparted  to  the  saints  and  citizens  of  the  Xew  Jeru- 
salem. They  shall  know,  even  as  they  are  known 
(1  Cor.  xiii.  12). 

Yer.  13.  "  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear 
what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  Churches" — Com- 
pare ii.  7.  I  cannot  leave  this  Epistle,  so  full  of 
precious  promises  to  a  Church,  which,  having  little 
strength,  had  yet  held  fast  the  word  of  Christ's 
patience,  without  giving  a  remarkable  passage  about 
it  from  Gibbon  {Decline  and  Fall,  c.  lxiv.),  in  which 
he  writes  like  one  who  almost  believed  that  the 
threatenings  and  promises  of  God  did  fulfil  them- 
selves in  history:  "In  the  loss  of  Ephesus  the 
Christians  deplored  the  fall  of  the  first  angel,  the 
extinction  of  the  first  candlestick  of  the  Revelations ; 
the  desolation  is  complete ;  and  the  temple  of  Diana 


250        EriSTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.    [III.  13. 

or  the  church  of  Mary  will  equally  elude  the  search 
of  the  curious  traveller.  The  circus  and  three  state- 
ly theatres  of  Laodicea  are  now  peopled  with  wolves 
and  foxes ;  Sardis  is  reduced  to  a  miserable  village ; 
the  God  of  Mahomet,  without  a  rival  or  a  son,  is  in- 
voked in  the  mosques  of  Thyatira  and  Pergamus, 
and  the  populousness  of  Smyrna  is  supported  by 
the  foreign  trade  of  the  Franks  and  Armenians. 
Philadelphia  alone  has  been  saved  by  prophecy,  or 
courage.  At  a  distance  from  the  sea,  forgotten  by 
the  emperors,  encompassed  on  all  sides  by  the  Turks, 
her  valiant  citizens  defended  their  religion  and  free- 
dom above  fourscore  years,  and  at  length  capitulated 
with  the  proudest  of  Ottomans.  Among  the  Greek 
colonies  and  churches  of  Asia,  Philadelphia  is  still 
erect — a  column  in  a  scene  of  ruins, — a  pleasing 
example  that  the  paths  of  honour  and  safety  may 
sometimes  be  the  same." 


VII. 

EPISTLE  TO  THE  CHURCH  OF  LAODICEA. 

Key.  iii.  14-22 


Ver.  14.  "  And  unto  the  Angel  of  the  Church 
of  the  Laodieeans  write." — Laodicea,  called  often  La- 
odicea  on  the  Lycus,  to  distinguish  it  from  other  cities 
(there  were  no  less  than  six  in  all)  bearing  the  same 
name,  was  a  city  in  Southern  Phrygia  (Phrygia 
Pacatiana),  midway  between  Philadelphia  and  Co- 
losse.  Its  nearness  to  the  latter  city  is  more  than 
once  referred  to  in  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Colos- 
sians  (iv.  13,  15,  16).  Its  earliest  name  was  Dios- 
polis,  then  Ehoas  (Plin.  H.  N.  y.  29).  Being  rebuilt 
and  adorned  by  Antiochus  the  Second,  king  of 
Syria,  he  called  it  Laodicea,  after  his  wife  Laodice, 
by  whom  he  was  afterwards  poisoned.  In  Eoman 
times  it  was  a  foremost  city  among  those  of  the 
second  rank  in  Asia  Minor  ;  "  celeberrima  urbs  " 
Pliny  calls  it.  Its  commerce  was  considerable, 
being  chiefly  in  the  wools  grown  in   the  region 


252        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.     [III.  H 

round  about,  which  were  celebrated  for  their  rich- 
ness of  colour  and  fineness  of  texture.  The  city 
suffered  grievously  in  the  Mithridatic  war,  but  pres- 
ently recovered  again ;  once  more  in  the  wide- 
wasting  earthquake  in  the  time  of  Tiberius,  but 
was  repaired  and  restored  by  the  efforts  of  its  own 
citizens,  without  any  help  asked  by  them  from  the 
Eoman  senate  (Tacitus,  Annal.  xiv.  27). 

Some  have  supposed  that  the  negligent  Angel 
of  the  Laodicean  Church  was  that  Archippus,  for 
whom  St.  Paul,  waiting  to  the  Colossians,  adds  the 
message,  "  And  say  to  Archippus,  Take  heed  to  the 
ministry  which  thou  hast  received  in  the  Lord,  that 
thou  fulfil  it "  (Col.  iv.  17).  The  urgency  of  this 
monition  certainly  seems  to  imply  that  St.  Paul  was 
not  altogether  satisfied  with  the  manner  in  which 
Archippus  was  then  fulfilling  the  "  ministry,"  what- 
ever that  might  be,  which  he  had  undertaken  ;  and 
affording  a  not  inconsiderable  support  to  this  conjec- 
ture is  the  fact  that  in  the  Apostolical  Constihctions 
(viii.  46),  which  with  much  of  later  times  also  con- 
tain much  of  the  very  earliest,  Archippus  is  actually 
named  as  first  bishop  of  Laodicea.  Let  him  have 
been  the  son  of  Philemon  (Philem.  2),  a  principal 
convert  in  the  Colossian  Church,  whose  son  there- 
fore might  very  probably  have  been  chosen  to  this 
dignity  and  honour,  and  it  would  be  nothing  strange 
to  find  him  some  thirty  years  later  holding  his  office 


III.  14.]  LAODICEA,  EEV.  III.  14-22.  253 

stlill ;  while  it  would  be  only  too  consonant  with 
the  downward  progress  of  things,  that  he  who  began 
slackly,  should  in  the  lapse  of  years  have  grown 
more  and  more  negligent,  till  now  he  needed  and  re- 
ceived this  sharpest  reproof  from  his  Lord.  "Wheth- 
er the  rebukes  and  threatenings  contained  in  this 
Epistle  did  their  work  or  not,  it  is  only  for  Him 
who  reads  the  hearts  of  men  to  know.  But  it  is 
certain  that  the  Church  of  Laodicea  was  in  some- 
what later  times,  so  far  as  man's  eye  could  see,  in  a 
flourishing  condition.  In  numbers  it  increased  so 
much  that  its  bishop  obtained  metropolitan  dignity ; 
and  in  361  an  important  Church  Council,  that  in 
which  the  Canon  of  Scripture  was  finally  declared, 
was  held  at  Laodicea,  and  derives  its  name  from 
thence.  All  has  perished  now.  He  who  removed 
the  candlestick  of  Ephesus,  has  rejected  Laodicea 
out  of  his  mouth.  The  fragments  of  aqueducts  and 
theatres  spread  over  a  vast  extent  of  country  tell  of 
the  former  magnificence  of  this  city  ;  but  of  this  once 
famous  Church  nothing  survives.  Kecent  travellers 
with  difficulty  discovered  one  or  two  Christians  in 
the  poor  village  of  Iski-Hissar,  which  stands  on 
the  site  which  Laodicea  occupied  of  old. 

"  These  things  saith  the  Amen,  the  faithful  and 
true  Witness" — "  The  Amen  "  (it  is  only  here  that 
the  word  is  used  as  a  proper  name)  is  He  who  can 
add  a  "  Verily,  verily,"  an  "  Amen,  amen,"  to  every 


254:        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCHES  IN  ASIA.    [III.  14 

word  which  He  utters  ;  as  so  frequently  He  does — 
the  double  "  Amen  "  indeed  only  in  the  Gospel  of 
St.  John,  i.  51 ;  iii.  3,  5, 11,  and  often.  He  is  "  the 
Witness ',  the  faithful  and  the  true"  in  that  He 
speaks  what  He  knows,  and  testifies  what  He  has 
seen.  The  thought  is  a  favourite  and  ever-recurring 
one  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  John  (iii.  11,  32,  33) ;  but 
does  not  appear  in  any  other.  It  may  be  interest- 
ing here  to  call  to  mind  how  the  confessors  of 
Lyons  and  Yienne,  referring  to  these  very  words, 
put  back  from  themselves  the  name  of  "  witnesses  " 
(fidpTvpes),  when  others  would  have  given  it  to  them, 
saying  that  Christ  was  the  faithful  and  true  Wit- 
ness, that  this  name  was  his  and  not  theirs  (Eu- 
sebius,  II  E.  v.  2). 

Of  the  two  epithets,  the  first,  7riOTo?,  expresses 
his  entire  trustworthiness.  The  word  is  employed 
in  two  very  different  senses  in  the  "New  Testament 
as  elsewhere — now  as  trusting  or  believing  (John 
xx.  27 ;  Acts  xiv.  1),  now  as  trustworthy  or  to  be 
believed  (2  Tim.  ii.  22  ;  1  Thess.  v.  27 ;  1  John  i. 
9).  Men  may  be  ttkttoi  in  both  senses,  the  active 
and  the  passive,  as  exercising  faith,  and  as  being 
worthy  to  have  faith  exercised  upon  them ;  God 
can  be  only  ino-ros  in  the  latter.  The  Arians  found 
this  epithet  applied  to  Christ  (Ileb.  iii.  2),  and,  as 
though  the  word  was  and  could  be  only  used  in  the 
former  sense,  in  that  of  exercising  faith  upon  some 


III.  14.]  LAODICEA,  KEV.  III.  14-22.  255 

higher  object,  itself  of  course  a  creaturely  act,  they 
drew  from  the  application  of  this  epithet  to  the  Son 
an  argument  against  his  divinity.  I  quote  the  clear 
and  excellent  answer  of  Athanasius,  and,  as  it  has 
been  well  translated,  use  the  translation  {Library 
of  the  Fathers,  Treatises  against  Aria?iism,  p.  289) : 
"  Further,  if  the  expression,  '  "Who  was  faithful,'  is 
a  difficulty  to  them  from  the  thought  that  c  faithful ' 
is  used  of  Him  as  of  others,  as  if  He  exercises  faith 
and  so  receives  the  reward  of  faith,  they  must  pro- 
ceed to  find  fault  with  Moses,  for  saying,  '  God 
faithful  and  true,'  and  with  St'.  Paul  for  writing, 
1  God  is  faithful,  who  will  not  suffer  you  to  be  tempt- 
ed above  that  ye  are  able.'  But  when  the  sacred 
writers  spoke  thus,  they  were  not  thinking  of  God 
in  a  human  way,  but  they  acknowledged  two  senses 
of  the  word  '  faithful '  in  Scripture,  first  believing, 
then  trustworthy,  of  which  the  former  belongs  to 
man,  the  latter  to  God.  Thus  Abraham  was  faith- 
ful because  he  believed  God's  word ;  and  God  faith- 
ful, for,  as  David  says  in  the  Psalm,  '  The  Lord  is 
faithful  in  all  his  words,'  or  is  trustworthy,  and  can- 
not lie.  Again,  <  If  any  faithful  woman  have  wid- 
ows,' she  is  so  called  for  her  right  faith  ;  but,  '  It  is 
a  faithful  saying,'  because  what  He  hath  spoken  hath 
a  claim  on  our  faith,  for  it  is  true,  and  is  not  other- 
wise. Accordingly  the  words,  '  Who  is  faithful  to 
Him   that  made   Him,'  implies   no   parallel  with 


256       EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.    [III.  14, 

others,  nor  means  that  by  having  faith  He  became 
well-pleasing,  but  that,  being  Son  of  God  the  True, 
He  too  is  faithful,  and  ought  to  be  believed  in  all 
He  says  and  does." 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  truthfulness  of  Christ  as 
a  "Witness  is  asserted  in  the  7roto?,  not,  as  might  at 
first  sight  be  assumed,  in  the  oKtj^lvo^  that  follows, 
or  at  least  in  it  only  as  one  quality  among  many. 
Christ  is  a  iiapivs  oXw&cvgs  (not  aXwOrfs),  in  that  He 
realized  and  fulfilled  in  the  highest  sense  all  that 
belonged  to  a  witness.  Three  things  are  necessary 
thereto.  He  must  have  been  avroirTn^ ;  having 
seen  with  his  own  eyes  that  which  he  professes  to 
attest.  He  must  be  competent  to  relate  and  repro- 
duce this  for  others.  He  must  be  willing  faithfully 
and  truthfully  to  do  this.  These  three  things  meet- 
ing in  Christ,  and  not  the  presence  of  the  last  only, 
constitute  Him  a  "  true  witness"  or  one  in  whom 
all  the  highest  conditions  of  a  witness  met. 

"  The  "beginning  of  the  creation  of  God" — There 
are  two  ways  in  which  grammatically  it  would  be 
possible  to  understand  these  words.  They  might 
say  that  Christ  was  passively  this  "  beginning  of 
the  creation  of  God"  as  the  first  and  most  excellent 
creature  of  God's  hands ;  thus  Jacob  addresses 
Keuben  as  dpxh  rifcvcov  fxov  (Gen.  xlix.  3 ;  cf.  Deut. 
xxi.  17).  Or,  on  the  other  hand,  they  might  declare 
of   Christ  that  He  was  the  active  source,  author, 


III.  14.]  LAODICEA,  EEY.  III.  14-22.  257 

and,  in  this  sense,  "  beginning  "  and  beginner  of 
all  creation ;  as  in  the  words  of  the  Creed,  "  by 
whom  all  things  were  made."  But  while  both 
meanings  are  possible  so  long  as  the  words  are 
merely  considered  by  themselves,  and  without  ref- 
erence to  any  other  statements  concerning  Christ, 
the  analogy  of  faith  imperatively  demands  the 
adoption  of  the  latter.  The  Catholic  Church  has 
ever  rejected  the  other  as  an  Arian  gloss ;  impossi- 
ble to  accept,  because  it  would  place  this  passage 
in  contradiction  with  every  passage  in  Scripture 
which  claims  divine  attributes,  and  not  creaturely, 
for  the  Son.  To  go  no  further  than  these  seven  Epis- 
tles, all  the  titles  which  Christ  claims  for  Himself  in 
them  are  either  necessarily  divine,  or,  at  any  rate, 
not  inconsistent  with  his  divinity ;  and  this  must 
be  so  no  less.  He  is  not,  therefore,  the  "  principium 
principiatum"  but  rather  the  "  principium  princip- 
ians" — not  He  whom  God  created  the  first,  but  He 
who  was  the  fountain-source  of  all  the  creation  of 
God,  by  whom  God  created  all  things  (John  i.  1-3  ; 
Col.  i.  15,  18) ;  even  as  elsewhere  in  this  Book 
Christ  appears  as  the  Author  of  creation  (v.  13). 
The  Arians,  as  is  well  known,  explained  these  words 
in  the  same  way  as  they  explained  Col.  i.  15,  which 
is  indeed  the  great  parallel  passage,  as  though  apxn 
was  "  the  begun,"  and  not  "  the  beginning  ;  "  and 
they  brought  Job  xl.  19  into  comparison.     But  for 


258        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.    [IIL  15. 

the  use  of  apxn  m  tne  sense  and  with  the  force 
which  we  here  demand  for  it,  as  "  principium,"  not 
"  initium  "  (thongh  these  Latin  words  do  not  ade- 
quately reproduce  the  distinction),  compare  the 
Gospel  of  Nicodcmus,  c.  25,  in  which  Hades  ad- 
dresses Satan  as  7)  rod  Savarov  dpyj)  zeal  pl&  tt}? 
dfiaprla^  ;  and  further,  Dionysius  the  Areopagite 
(c.  15)  :  6  Oeo?  iarlv  irdvrayv  air  la  /ecu  apyf) ;  and 
again,  Clement  of  Alexandria  {Strom,  iv.  25) : 
o  Oeo?  he  avapxps,  dpyj]  rcov  6\cov  TravTektfs.  These 
and  innumerable  other  passages  abundantly  vindi- 
cate for  apxn  that  active  sense  which  we  must  needs 
claim  for  it  here. 

Yer.  15.  "  I  know  thy  toorks,  that  thou  art 
neither  cold  nor  hot :  I  would  thou  wert  cold  or 
hot." — feo-7-09,  fr°m  &<°y  ferveo,  cf.  Acts  xviii.  25  ; 
Rom.  xii.  11  ;  Ziovres  tw  irvevfjLciTi,  love  to  God  be- 
ing a  divine  heat,  a  divine  fire  (Cant.  viii.  6  ;  Luke 
xxiv.  32).  "OcfreXov,  properly  the  second  aorist  of 
ofeiXeo,  but  now  grown  into  an  adverbial  use 
(=  "  utinam  "),  has  so  far  forgotten  what  at  the 
first  it  was,  as  to  be  employed  promiscuously  in  all 
numbers  and  all  persons ;  cf.  1  Cor.  v.  8  ;  2  Cor. 
xi.  1.  It  governs  an  indicative,  not  an  optative, 
here  (97?,  not  efc'77?,  is  the  right  reading),  inasmuch  as 
the  Lord  is  not  desiring  that  something  even  now 
might  he,  but  only  that  something  might  have  been. 
In  form  a  wish,  it  is  in  reality  a  regret. 


III.  15.]  LAODICEA,  PwEV.  III.  14-22.  259 

Shall  we  take  this,  "  /  would  thou  wert  cold  or 
hot"  merely  as  the  expression  of  a  holy  impatience 
at  the  half-and-half  position  of  this  Laodicean 
Angel ;  without  pushing  the  matter  further,  or  at- 
tempting to  explain  to  ourselves  how  the  Lord  should 
put  coldness  as  one  of  two  alternatives  to  be  de- 
sired ;  as  though  He  had  said,  "  I  would  thou 
wouldst  take  one  side  or  other,  be  avowedly  with  me, 
or  avowedly  against  me,  ranged  under  my  banner, 
or  under  that  of  my  enemies,  that  so  I  might  under- 
stand how  to  deal  with  thee  "  ?  Hardly  so.  This 
impatience,  looked  at  more  closely,  would  not  de- 
serve to  be  called  holy.  It  is  the  impatience  of  sin- 
ful man,  not  of  the  Son  of  God  ;  to  whom  indecision 
between  good  and  evil  must  be  preferable  to  deci- 
sion for  evil.  The  state  of  lukewarmness  must  be 
in  itself  worse  than  even  that  of  coldness,  before  the 
Lord  could  thus  deliberately  desire  the  latter  as  a 
preferable  alternative.  But  how  ?  for  there  is  cer- 
tainly a  difficulty  here.  Lukewarmness  is  very  in- 
ferior to  heat,  but  seems  preferable  to  absolute  cold- 
ness in  the  things  of  God.  To  have  only  half  a 
heart  for  these  things  is  bad,  but  wherein  is  it  bet- 
ter to  have  no  heart  at  all  %  How  shall  we  then  un- 
derstand this  exclamation  of  the  Saviour,  a  I  would 
thou  wert  cold  or  hot "  t  Best,  I  think,  in  this 
way,  namely,  by  regarding  the  "  cold  "  as  one  hith- 
erto untouched  by  the  powers  of  grace.     There  is 


260        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCHES  IN  ASIA.    [III.  15. 

always  hope  of  such  a  one,  that,  when  he  does  come 
under  those  powers,  he  may  become  a  zealous  and 
earnest  Christian.  He  is  not  one  on  whom  the 
grand  experiment  of  the  Gospel  has  been  tried  and 
has  failed.  But  the  "  lukewarm  "  is  one  who  has 
tasted  of  the  good  gift  and  of  the  powers  of  the 
world  to  come,  who  has  been  a  subject  of  Divine 
grace,  but  in  whom  that  grace  has  failed  to  kindle 
more  than  the  feeblest  spark.  The  publicans  and 
harlots  were  "  cold"  the  Apostles  "  hot"  The 
Scribes  and  Pharisees,  such  among  them  as  that 
Simon  in  whose  house  the  Lord  sat  and  spake  the 
parable  of  the  fifty  and  the  Hve  hundred  pence 
(Luke  vii.  36-47),  they  were  "  lukewarm"  It  was 
from  among  the  "  cold"  and  not  the  "  lukewarm" 
that  He  drew  recruits ;  from  among  them  came  for- 
ward the  candidates  for  discipleship  and  apostleship 
and  the  crown  of  life,  Matthew,  and  Zacchasns,  and 
the  Magdalene,  and  the  other  woman  that  had  been 
a  sinner  (if  indeed  another),  and  all  those  others, 
publicans  and  harlots,  that  entered  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven,  while  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees 
continued  without.  That  woman  which  was  a  sin- 
ner, for  example,  having  been  "  cold"  passed  from 
that  coldness  to  the  fervency  of  a  divine  heat,  at 
which  there  is  little  or  no  likelihood  that  the  "  luke- 
warm "  Simon  ever  arrived  (Luke  vii.  47). 

It  is  thus  that  Gregory  the  Great  explains  these 


III.  15.]  LAODICEA,   REV.  III.  14-22.  261 

words  (Reg.  Past.  iii.  34) :  "  Qui  enim  adhuc  in 
peccatis  est,  conversionis  fiduciam  non  amittit.  Qui 
vero  post  conversionem  tepuit,  et  spem,  quae  esse 
potuit  de  peccatore,  subtraxit.  Ant  calidus  ergo 
quisque  esse,  aut  frigidus  quseritur,  ne  tepidus  evo- 
matur,  ut  videlicet  aut  necdum  conversus,  adhuc  de 
se  spem  conversionis  prasbeat,  aut  jam  conversus  in 
virtutibus  inardescat."  Compare  Origen  (De  Prin- 
cip.  iii.  4)  :  a  Forte  utilius  videatur  obtineri  animam 
a  carne,  quam  residere  in  suis  propriis  voluntatibus. 
Namque  quoniam  nee  calida  dicitur  esse,  nee  frigid  a, 
sed  in  medio  quodam  tepore  perdurans,  tardam  et 
satis  difficilem  conversionem  poterit  invenire.  Si 
vero  carni  adhaereat,  ex  his  ipsis  interdum  malis  quae 
ex  carnis  vitiis  patitur,  satiata  aliquando  et  repleta, 
velut  gravissimis  oneribus  luxurias  ac  libidinis  fati- 
gata,  facilius  et  velocius  converti  a  materialibus  sor- 
dibus  ad  ccelestium  desiderium  et  spiritualem  gra- 
tiam  potest."  Jeremy  Taylor,  too,  in  the  second  of 
his  sermons,  Of  Lnkeioarmness  and  Zeal,  discusses 
this  point,  why  the  Lord  preferred  "  hot "  or  "  cold" 
to  "  lukewarm"  at  considerable  length  ;  and  urges 
well  that  it  is  the  "  lukewarm"  not  as  a  transition- 
al, but  as  a  final  state,  which  is  thus  the  object  of 
the  Lord's  abhorrence  :  "  In  feasts  or  sacrifices  the 
ancients  did  use  apponere  frigidam  or  calidam ; 
sometimes  they  drank  hot  drink,  sometimes  they 
poured  cold  upon  their  gravies  or  in  their  wines, 


262        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES   IN  ASIA.    [III.  15. 

but  no  services  of  tables  or  altars  were  ever  with 
lukewarm.  God  hates  it  worse  than  stark  cold ; 
which  expression  is  the  more  considerable,  because 
in  natural  and  superinduced  progressions  from  ex- 
treme to  extreme,  we  must  necessarily  pass  through 
the  midst ;  and  therefore  it  is  certain  a  lukewarm 
religion  is  better  than  none  at  all,  as  being  the  doing 
some  parts  of  the  work  designed,  and  nearer  to  per- 
fection than  the  utmost  distance  could  be  ;  and  yet 
that  God  hates  it  more,  must  mean,  that  there  is 
some  appendant  evil  in  this  state  which  is  not  in  the 
other,  and  that  accidentally  it  is  much  worse  :  and 
so  it  is,  if  we  rightly  understand  it.;  that  is,  if  we 
consider  it  not  as  a  being  in,  or  passing  through,  the 
middle  way,  but  as  a  state  and  a  period  of  religion. 
If  it  be  in  motion,  a  lukewarm  religion  is  pleasing 
to  God ;  for  God  hates  it  not  for  its  imperfection, 
and  its  natural  measures  of  proceeding  ;  but  if  it 
stands  still  and  rests  there,  it  is  a  state  against  the 
designs  and  against  the  perfection  of  God :  and  it 
hath  in  it  these  evils." 

I  must  not  leave  these  words  without  observing 
that  there  is  another  way  of  explaining  this,  "/ 
would  thou  wert  cold  or  hot"  which  has  found  fa- 
vour with  some  in  modern  times.  Urging  that 
food,  when  either  cold  or  hot,  is  pleasant  to  the 
taste,  and  only  when  tepid  unwelcome,  they  make 
both  the  "  cold  "  and  the  "  hot  "  to  express  spiritual 


III.  16.]  LAODICEA,  REV.  IIL  14-22.  263 

conditions  absolutely  acceptable  in  themselves,  the 
only  tertium  comparationis  being  the  nausea  created 
by  the  tepid,  and  affirm  that  nothing  further  has  a 
right  here  to  be  pressed.  But  assuredly  there  is 
much  more  in  these  words  than  this. 

Yer.  16.  "  So  then  because  thou  art  lukewarm, 
and  neither  cold  nor  hot,  I  will  spue  thee  out  of  my 
mouth" — The  land  of  Canaan  is  said  to  have  spued 
out  its  former  inhabitants  for  their  abominable  do- 
ings ;  the  children  of  Israel  are  warned  that  they 
commit  not  the  same,  lest  in  like  manner  it  spue 
out  them  (Lev.  xviii.  28  ;  xx.  22)  ;  but  this  threat- 
ening is  more  terrible  still :  it  is  to  be  spued  out 
of  the  mouth  of  Christ,  to  be  rejected  as  with  nausea, 
with  moral  loathing  and  disgust,  by  Him ;  to  ex- 
change the  greatest  possible  nearness  to  Him  for 
the  remotest  distance.  At  the  same  time,  in  the 
original  the  language  is  not  quite  so  severe  as  in 
our  Version ;  the  threat  does  not  present  itself  as 
one  about  to  be  put  into  immediate  execution. 
The  long-suffering  of  Christ  has  not  been  all  ex- 
hausted ;  fieXkco  ae  ifjueaai,  "  I  am  about,"  or  "  I 
have  it  in  my  mind,  to  spue  thee  out  of  my 
mouth,"  as  the  Yulgate  seeks  to  express  it,  "  in- 
cipiam  te  evomere ; "  that  is,  "  unless  thou  so 
takest  to  heart  this  threat  that  I  shall  never  need 
to  execute  this  threat "  (Jon.  iii.  10  ;  1  Kings  xxi. 
29).     But  if  executed,  it  implies  nothing  less  than 


264        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES   IN  ASIA.    [III.  17. 

absolute  rejection,  being  equivalent  to  that  "  I  will 
remove  thy  candlestick  out  of  his  place  "  (ii.  5),  ut- 
tered against  the  Ephesian  Angel.  Not  very  dif- 
ferent is  the  tropical  use  of  irTveuv,  KaiaiTTveiv,  and 
in  Latin  of  "  respuere,"  "  conspuere,"  as  =  "  repu- 
diare,"  "  abhorrere  ab  aliqua  re." 

Yer.  17.  "  Because  thou  say  est,  I  am  rich,  and 
increased  with  goods,  and  have  need  of  nothing  • 
and  hnowest  not  that  thou  art  wretched,  and  miser- 
able,  and  poor,  and  hlind,  and  naked" — There  is  a 
question  whether  this  verse  coheres  the  most  closely 
with  what  goes  before,  or  what  follows  after, — that 
is,  whether  Christ  threatens  to  reject  him  from  his 
mouth,  because  he  says,  "  I  am  rich,  and  increased 
with  goods,  and  have  need  of  nothing  ;  "  or  whether, 
because  he  says  he  is  all  this,  therefore  Christ 
counsels  him  to  buy  of  Him  what  will  make  him 
rich  indeed  (ver.  18).  Our  Translators  regard  the 
latter  connexion  as  the  right  one  ;  and,  by  the 
punctuation  which  they  have  adopted,  join  this 
verse  with  that  which  follows  after  it,  not  with 
that  which  went  before  it — I  doubt  whether  cor- 
rectly. I  should  have  preferred  to  place  a  colon  at 
the  end  of  ver.  1G,  and  a  full-stop  at  that  of  ver. 
17,  instead  of  the  reverse,  which  they  have  done. 
— These  riches  and  goods  in  which  the  Laodicean 
Church  and  Angel  gloried  we  must  understand  as 
spiritual  riches,  in   which   they  fondly  imagined 


III.  IT.]  LAODICEA,  EEV.  III.  14-22.  265 

tliey  abounded.  Some  interpreters  take  it  in  an- 
other sense,  that  they  boasted  of  their  worldly  pros- 
perity, their  flourishing  outward  condition,  and 
found  in  this  a  sign  and  token  of  God's  favour  tow- 
ards them.  But  assuredly  this  is  a  mistake ;  it  is 
in  the  sphere  of  spiritual  things  that  the  Lord  is 
moving ;  and  this  language  in  this  application  is 
justified  by  numerous  passages  in  Scripture  :  as  by 
Luke  xii.  21 ;  1  Cor.  i.  5  ;  2  Cor.  viii.  9  ;  above  all, 
by  two  passages  of  holy  irony,  1  Cor.  iv.  8  and 
Hos.  xii.  8  ;  both  standing  in  very  closest  connex- 
ion with  this  ;  I  can  indeed  hardly  doubt  that  there 
is  intended  a  reference  to  the  latter  of  these  in  the 
words  of  our  Lord.  The  Laodicean  Angel,  and  the 
Church  which  he  was  dragging  into  the  same  ruin 
with  himself,  were  walking  in  a  vain  show  and  im- 
agination of  their  own  righteousness,  their  own  ad- 
vances in  spiritual  insight  and  knowledge.  That 
this  may  go  hand  in  hand  with  the  most  miserable 
lack  of  all  real  grace,  all  true  and  solid  advances  in 
goodness,  we  have  a  notable  example  in  the  Phar- 
isee of  our  Lord's  parable  (Luke  xviii.  11,  12 ;  cf. 
Luke  xvi.  15  ;  1  Cor.  xiii.  1) ;  and  so  it  was  here. 
Rightly  Richard  of  St.  Yictor :  "  Dicis  quod  sum 
dives  et  locupletatus,  sive  videlicet  per  scientise 
cognitionem,  sive  per  Scriptures  prgedicationem, 
sive  per  secularis  eloquentise  nitorem,  sive  per 
sacramentorum  administrationem,  sive  per  pontifi- 

12 


266        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.    [III.  17. 

cialis  apicis  dignitatem,  sive  per  vulgi  laudem  ina- 
nem." 

Such  was  their  estimate  of  themselves  ;  but  now 
follows  the  terrible  reality,  namely,  Christ's  esti- 
mate of  them :  "  And  hiowest  not  that  thou  art 
wretched,  and  miserable,  and  poor,  and  bli?id,  and 
ndkedP  Here,  as  so  often,  our  Yersion,  to  its  loss, 
has  taken  no  note  of  the  article  which  goes  before 
the  two  first  adjectives,  and  raises  them  to  the  dig- 
nity of  substantives,  while  the  three  which  follow 
are  added  as  qualifying  adjectives.  Bead  rather, 
"  And  hwwest  not  that  thou  art  the  wretched  and 
the  miserable  one,1  and  poor,  and  blind,  and  naked." 
Ta\ai7rcopo<;,  "  wretched,"  occurs  only  here  and 
Rom.  vii.  24: ;  it  is  commonly  derived  by  the 
grammarians  from  rXdco  and  7rw/oo?  in  the  sense  of 
grief,  but  thought  now  to  be  a  poetical  recasting  of 
rdXcnreipios,  in  which  case  we  should  find  ireipa, 
a  sharp  piercing  point,  in  the  latter  syllables. 
'EXeetz/o?,  "  miserable"  only  here  and  1  Cor.  xv. 
19,  the  object  of  extremest  pity  (eXeou?  a%io$,  Sui- 
das),  as  in  certain  peril  of  eternal  death,  if  he  should 
remain  what  he  was.  The  charge  of  blindness 
would  seem  to  imply  that  the  Laodicean  Church 

1  Compare,  as  an  exact  parallel,  and,  singularly  enough,  much 
more  than  a  mere  verbal  parallel,  Isai.  xlvii.  8  (LXX.):  vvv  8e  a/cove 
tcvto,  rpvcpepd,  ??  KaOrjfieurj,  7?  ireiroiOula,  r)  \eyov<ra  Iv  Kapltia  avrrjs, 
'Eyci  f  tut ;  ko.)  ovk  tcrrw  drepo,  k.  t.  A. 


III.  18.]  LAODICEA,  REV.  III.  14-22.  2G7 

boasted  of  spiritual  insight.  Like  some  before 
them,  being  blind,  they  yet  said,  u  We  see  "  (John 
ix.  21).  This  blindness,  of  course,  was  not  absolute 
and  complete ;  else  the  eyesalve  which  the  Lord 
presently  bids  them  to  obtain  of  Him  would  have 
profited  little.  They  were  fivccird^ovre^,  as  St. 
Peter  (2  Ep.  i.  9)  speaks  of  some,  he  too  joining 
tu(/>Ao?  and  fivcoird^cov. 

Yew  18.  "  I  counsel  thee  to  buy  of  Me  gold  tried 
in  the  fire,  that  thou  mayest  he  rich  /  and  white 
raiment,  that  thou  may  est  be  clothed,  and  that  the 
shame  of  thy  ncikedness  do  not  appear" — There  is 
a  certain  irony,  but  the  irony  of  divine  love,  in 
these  words.  He  who  might  have  commanded, 
prefers  rather  to  counsel  ;  He  who  might  have 
spoken  as  from  heaven,  conforms  Himself,  so  far  as 
the  outward  form  of  his  words  reaches,  to  the  lan- 
guage of  earth.  To  the  merchants  and  factors  of 
this  wealthy  mercantile  city  He  addresses  Himself 
in  their  own  dialect.  Laodicea  was  a  city  of  ex- 
tensive money  transactions  ;  Cicero,  journeying  to 
or  from  his  province,  proposes  to  take  up  money 
there  (Epp.  ad  Div.  ii.  IT ;  iii.  5)  ;  Christ  here  in- 
vites to  dealings  with  Him :  He  has  gold  so  fine 
that  none  will  reject  it.  The  wools  of  Laodicea,  of 
a  raven  blackness,  were  famous  throughout  the 
world ;  but  He  has  raiment  of  dazzling  white  for 
them  who  will  put  it  on.     There  were  ointments 


268        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHE3  IN  ASIA.    [III.  la 

for  which  certainly  many  of  the  Asiatic  cities  were 
famous ;  but  He,  as  He  will  presently  announce, 
has  eyesalve  more  precious  than  them  all.  Would 
it  not  be  wise  to  transact  their  chief  business 
with  Him  ?  Thus  Perkins  {Exposition  upon  Rev. 
i.  ii.  iii.,  Works,  vol.  iii.  p.  363) :  "  Christ  saith,  I 
counsel  thee  to  buy  of  Me  ;  where  He  alludeth  to 
the  outward  state  of  this  city,  for  it  was  rich,  and 
also  given  to  much  traffic,  as  histories  record,  and 
therefore  He  speaks  to  them  in  their  own  kind,  as 
if  He  should  say,  Ye  are  a  people  exercised  in  much 
traffic,  and  delighted  with  nothing  more  than  buy- 
ing and  selling.  "Well,  I  have  wares  that  will  serve 
your  turn,  as  gold,  garments,  and  oil ;  therefore 
come  and  buy  of  Me." 

But  first  on  those  words,  "  luy"  and  "  of  Me." 
We  must  not  fail  to  put  an  emphasis  on  that  "  of 
Me."  "  In  Me,"  Christ  would  say,  "  are  hidden 
all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge." 
Christ's  Apostle  had  once  before  to  remind  the 
Colossians,  neighbours  of  the  Laodiceans,  that  this 
was  so  ;  and  that  there  was  no  growth  for  the 
Church,  or  for  any  member  of  the  Church,  except 
through  holding  the  Head  (Col.  ii.  3,  19)  ;  that  all 
self-chosen  ways  of  will-worship  might  have  a 
show  of  wisdom,  but  puffed  up,  and  did  not  build 
up  (ii.  10-15)  ;  and  out  of  the  deep  anxiety  which 
he  evidently  felt   for   both   these  sister  Churches 


HI.  13.]  LAODICEA,  EEV.  III.  14-22.  269 

alike  (ii.  1),  lie  had  desired  that  the  Epistle  to  the 
Colossians  should  be  read  also  in  the  Church  of  the 
Laodiceans  (iv.  16).  But  they  had  not  learned  their 
lesson.  St.  Paul's  "  great  conflict "  for  them  had 
been  well  nigh  in  vain  ;  and  now  the  Lord,  repeat- 
ing his  servant's  lesson,  gathers  up  into  a  single 
point,  concentrates  in  that  single  phrase,  "  buy  of 
Me"  the  whole  lesson  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Colos- 
sians. 

The  "  buying  "  of  Christ,  who  in  so  many  more 
passages  is  described  as  making  a  free  gift  of  all 
which  He  imparts  to  men,  is  drawn  from  Isai.  Iv. 
1,  with  which  we  may  compare  Matt.  xiii.  44,  46. 
The  price  which  they  should  pay  was  this,  the  re- 
nunciation of  all  vain  reliance  on  their  own  right- 
eousness and  wisdom  ;  the  price  which  in  another 
Epistle  St.  Paul  declared  he  had  so  gladly  paid, 
that  so  he  might  himself  win  Christ  (Phil.  iii.  7,  8)  ; 
the  aTTordcrcrecrScu  iraav,  which  the  Lord  long  be- 
fore had  declared  to  be  the  necessary  condition  of 
his  discipleship  (Luke  xiv.  33).  This  is  the  price, 
as  it  is  contemplated  rather  in  its  negative  aspect ; 
in  its  positive  it  is  the  earnest  striving  after,  and 
longing  for,  the  gift,  the  reaching  out  after  it,  the 
opening  of  the  mouth  wide  that  He  may  fill  it. 
Yitringa :  "  Qua3  beneficia  Dominus  vult  ut  em  ant, 
h.  e.  secundum  conditiones  foederis  gratise  pro  iis 
expendant  pretium  abnegationis  sui  ipsius  et  mun- 


270        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.    [III.  18. 

danarum  cupiditatum  ;  quod  lnc  non  habet  ratio- 
nem  meriti,  sed  tamen  pretii,  quia  in  regeneration© 
homo  aliis  qnibusdam,  rebus  sibi  liactenns  caris  re- 
nunciat,  ut  pretioso  dono  justitise  Christi  potiatur." 
And  what  does  the  Lord  counsel  him  that  he 
shall  "  buy  /  "  which,  when  he  has  made  them  his 
own,  he  shall  be  no  longer  "poor  and  blind  and 
naked  "  t  Three  things  ;  and,  first,  as  he  is  "poor  " 
— "  gold  tried  in  the  fire,  that  thou  may  est  be  rich" 
A  comparison  with  1  Pet.  i.  7  (cf.  Zcch.  xiii.  9  ; 
Matt.  iii.  3  ;  Prov.  xvii.  3  ;  Jam.  i.  3)  teaches  us 
that  by  this  is  intended  faith  ;  for  faith  being  a  gift 
of  God,  must  therefore  be  bought  of  Christ  (Luke 
xvii.  5  ;  cf.  Ps.  lxxii.  15,  according  to  the  right 
translation)  ;  and  such  faith  as  would  stand  the  test, 
would  endure  in  the  furnace  of  affliction,  in  the 
7rvpcoG-L<>  (1  Pet.  iv.  12) ;  Vitringa  :  "  Vera  et  soli- 
da  iides,  qucs  sustinere  possit  afflictiones."  Then 
shall  he  be  rich  indeed  ;  this  is  the  true  7t\ovtl&iv 
(1  Cor.  i.  5),  better  than  that  spoken  of  in  the  book 
of  Job  (xxii.  23,  24) ;  though  that,  as  God's  gift, 
might  be  good ;  then  should  he  be  indeed  one  e& 
Qeov  irXouroiv  (Luke  xii.  21),  rich  toward  God,  not 
walking,  as  now,  in  a  vain  show  of  wealth  which  he 
had  not.  He7rvpwfxevov  etc  irvp6<;  =  SoKLfia^o/Jievov  Sia 
irvp&s,  1  Pet.  i.  7  ;  for,  in  the  words  of  the  Latin  poet, 

"  Omnia  purgat  ignis  edax,  vitramque  metaUi 
Excoquit." 


III.  18.]  LAODICEA,  EEV.  III.  14-22.  271 

But,  secondly,  as  lie  is  " naked"  he  shall  "  buy  " 
of  Christ  "  white  raiment,  that  thou  mayest  be 
clothed,  and  that  the  shame  of  thy  nakedness  do 
not  appear." — Instead  of  the  alayyvn  here,  we  have 
in  the  parallel  passage,  xvi.  15,  acrxn/JLoavvn,  trans- 
lated also  "  shame,"  but  better,  "  unseemliness,"  or 
"  uncomeliness ; "  cf.  ra  aajQl^ova,  1  Cor.  xii.  23. 
"  Do  not  appear  "  is  too  weak  a  rendering  of  firj 
(f>avepco9j}.  Translate  rather,  "  be  not  made  mani- 
fest /  "  fyavepovoSau  being  constantly  used  for  the 
manifestations  or  revelations  which  God  makes  of 
the  hidden  things  of  men  (John  iii.  21 ;  1  Cor.  iv. 
5  ;  2  Cor.  v.  11  ;  Eph.  v.  13) ;  either  now,  or  at 
that  last  day  when  every  guest  that  has  not  on  a 
wedding  garment  is  at  the  same  instant  discovered 
and  cast  out  (Matt.  xxii.  11-13  ;  compare  Isai.  xivii. 
3  :  ava/ca\v(f)$i]<T€Tai,  ?;  alcr^vvri  crov).  As  stripping, 
and  laying  bare  the  nakedness,  is  a  frequent  method 
of  putting  to  open  shame  (cf.  2  Sam.  x.  4  ;  Isai.  xx. 
4 ;  xlvii.  2,  3  ;  Ezek.  xvi.  37 ;  Hos.  ii.  3,  9  ;  iii.  5  ; 
Nah.  iii.  5  ;  Rev.  xvi.  15),  so  the  clothing  with 
comely  apparel  those  unclothed  or  ill-clothed  be- 
fore, of  imparting  honour ;  cf.  Gen.  xli.  42  ;  Esth. 
vi.  7-11 ;  Luke  xv.  22  ;  Zech.  iii.  3-5  ;  and  above 
ail,  Gen.  iii.  7,  21,  where  it  is  shown  that  God,  and 
not  himself,  is  the  true  coverer  of  the  nakedness  of 
man ;  for  while  he  can  discover  his  own  shame,  it 
is  God  only  who  can  cover  it.     This,  the  shame  of 


272        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEYEN  CHUKCHES  IN  ASIA.    [IIL  IS. 

the  nakedness  of  him  who,  professing  Christ,  has 
not  put  on  Christ  (Col.  iii.  10-14),  may  be,  and 
often  is,  revealed  in  the  present  time ;  it  must  be 
revealed  in  the  last  day  (Matt.  xxii.  11-13 ;  Dan. 
xii.  2 ;  2  Cor.  v.  10).  Therefore  is  it  that  the 
Psalmist  exclaims,  "  Blessed  is  the  man  whose  sin 
is  covered "  (Ps.  xxxii.  1) ;  and  those  interpreters 
seem  to  me  to  give  too  narrow  a  range  of  meaning 
to  this  "  white  raiment,"  who  limit  it  to  the  graces 
of  the  Christian  life,  and  the  putting  on,  in  this 
sense,  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  We  should  under- 
stand by  it  not  merely  the  righteousness  of  Christ 
imparted,  but  also  that  righteousness  imputed  ;  for 
both  are  needful,  the  one  as  needful  as  the  other, 
if  the  shame  of  our  nakedness  is  not  to  appear.  So 
Yitringa :  "  Vestimenta  alba,  h.  e.  justitiam  Christi, 
vera  fide  acceptam,  quae  nos  obtegat  qua  parte  nudi, 
id  est,  expositi  sumus  ardenti  irae  Dei ;  turn  quoque 
habitus  Christianarum  virtutum,  qure  faciunt  ut 
quis  cum  fiducia  absque  pudore  coram  Deo  et 
Sanctis  ausit  comparere,  inter  quas  eminent  caritas, 
simplicitas,  humilitas  et  zelus." 

"  And  anoint  thine  eyes  with  eyesalve,  that  thou 
mayest  see"— The  eye  for  which  this  salve  is  needed 
is,  of  course,  the  spiritual  eye,  the  eye  of  the  con- 
science, by  which  spiritual  things  are  discerned  and 
appreciated ;  which  eye  may  be  sound  or  simple 
(a7rXo0?,  Matt.  V.  29),  or  which  may  be  evil  {irovrj 


III.  18.]  LAODICEA,  EEV.  III.  14-22.  273 

/jo?,  Matt.  vi.  23  ;  cf.  1  John  ii.  11) ;  and  according 
as  it  is  this  or  that,  the  man  will  see  himself  as  he 
truly  is,  or  see  nothing  as  he  ought  to  see  it.  The 
beginning  of  all  true  amendment  is  to  see  ourselves 
as  indeed  we  are,  in  our  misery,  our  guilt,  our 
shame  ;  and  to  enable  us  to  do  this  is  the  first  con- 
sequence of  the  anointing  with  that  eyesalve  which 
the  Lord  here  invites  this  Angel  to  purchase  of 
Him.  The  Spirit  convinceth  of  sin,  and  by  this 
"  eyesalve  "  we  must  understand  the  illuminating 
grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  at  once  shows  to 
us  ourselves  and  God.  And  if  it  be  true  of  the 
medicinal  eyesalves  of  antiquity  that  they  com- 
monly caused  the  eye  to  smart  on  their  first  appli- 
cation (Tob.  xi.  8,  12),  "  mordacia  collyria,"  "  acre 
colly rium,"  as  Augustine  therefore  calls  them  {In 
Joh.  Tract,  xviii.  §  11 ;  Conf.  vii.  8),  this  may  fitly 
set  forth  to  us  the  wholesome  pain  and  medicinal 
smart  which  belong  to  the  spiritual  eyesalve  as 
well ;  making  for  us  discoveries  so  painful  as  it 
does,  causing  us  to  see  in  ourselves  a  nakedness 
and  poverty  which  had  been  wholly  concealed 
from  us  before  ;  while  yet  only  through  the  seeing 
and  through  the  confessing  of  this  can  that  poverty 
be  ever  exchanged  for  riches,  or  that  nakedness  for 
"  durable  clothing." 

It  has  been  already  remarked  (p.  211),  and  as- 
suredly is  very  well  worthy  of  notice,  that  the  two 

12* 


274:       EPISTLES  TO   THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.     [III.  18. 

Churches  which  are  spiritually  in  the  most  sunken 
condition  of  all,  that,  namely,  of  Sardis  and  this  of 
Laodicea,  are  also  the  two  in  which  alone  there  is 
no  mention  made  either  of  adversaries  from  with- 
out, or  of  hinderers  to  the  truth  from  within.  Of 
the  absence  of  heathen  adversaries  there  has  been 
occasion  to  speak  already ;  but  more  noticeable  still 
is  the  fact  that  there  neither  appear  here  nor  there 
Nicolaitans,  or  Balaamites,  or  Jezebelites,  or  those 
who  say  they  are  Jews  and  are  not ;  seeking  to  se- 
duce Christ's  servants,  and  making  it  needful  for 
them  earnestly  to  contend  for  the  truth,  if  they 
would  not  be  robbed  of  it  altogether.  In  the  cold- 
ness and  deadness  of  these  Churches,  which  had  no 
truth  to  secure  or  defend  from  gain  say  ers,  we  may 
see  a  pregnant  hint  of  all  which  the  Church  owes 
to  the  heresies  and  heretics  that,  one  after  another, 
have  assailed  her.  Owing  them  no  thanks  for  what 
she  has  gained  by  them,  her  gains  themselves  have 
been  immense,  and  there  are  remarkable  acknow- 
ledgments to  this  effect  made  by  more  than  one  of 
the  early  Fathers.  Contending  against  these  she 
has  learned  not  merely  to  define  more  accurately, 
but  to  grasp  more  firmly,  and  to  prize  more  dearly, 
that  truth  of  which  they  would  fain  have  deprived 
her.  What  would  the  Church  of  the  second  cen- 
tury have  been,  if  it  had  never  learned  its  strength, 
and  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge  which 


III.  18.]  LAODICEA,  KEV.  III.  14r-22.  275 

it  had  in  Christ  Jesus,  in  the  course  of  that  tremen- 
dous conflict  with  the  Gnostics  which  it  then  sus- 
tained ?  Would  the  Church  itself  have  ever  been 
the  true  Gnostic,  except  for  these  false  ones  ? 
Again,  what  an  education  for  it  were  the  fast- 
succeeding  conflicts  of  the  two  next  centuries  ;  and 
not  in  intellectual  education  only,  but  "  as  iron 
sharpeneth  iron,"  so  the  zeal  of  the  adversaries  of 
the  truth  served  often  to  excite  the  zeal  and  love, 
which  might  else  have  abated,  of  its  friends.  As- 
suredly it  was  not  good  for  the  Sardian  and  Laodi- 
cean Churches  to  be  without  this  necessity  of  ear- 
nestly contending  for  the  truth.  Perhaps  they 
gloried  in  their  freedom  from  conflicts  which  were 
agitating  and  troubling  the  other  Churches  around 
them.  But  we  may  be  bold  to  say  that  in  a  world 
of  imperfections  like  ours,  it  argued  no  healthy  spir- 
itual life  that  there  should  have  been  none  there  to 
call  the  truth  into  question  and  debate.  Misgrowths 
are  at  all  events  growths ;  and  if  there  is  a  spiritual 
condition  which  is  above  errors,  so  also  there  is  one 
which  is  leneath  them,  when  there  is  not  interest 
enough  in  theology,  not  care  enough  to  know  any 
thing  certain  about  God,  or  about  man's  relation  to 
God,  even  to  generate  a  heresy.  As  we  read  the 
history  of  the  Church,  we  may  perhaps  find  some 
consolation  in  thoughts  like  these.  Assuredly  in 
reading  many  a  page  in  that  history,  we  need  the 


276        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.    [III.  19. 

strongest   consolations  which  we  can   any  where 
find.     But  to  return  from  this  digression. 

Yer.  19.  "As  many  as  I  love  I  rebuke  and 
chasten  /  be  zealous  therefore,  and  repent." — He, 
the  great  Master-builder,  polishes  with  many 
strokes  of  the  chisel  and  the  hammer  the  stones 
which  shall  find  a  place  at  last  in  the  walls  of 
the  heavenly  Jerusalem  (cf.  Prov.  iii.  12  ;  Job  v. 
17  ;  Heb.  xii.  6  ;  2  Chron.  xxxiii.  11-13  ;  Ps.  xciv. 
12).  And  this  is  a  rule  which  endures  no  exception. 
In  that  a  as  many  "  (oaovs)  here  lies  the  same  em- 
phasis as  in  the  "  every  son  "  of  Heb.  xii.  6.  All 
whom  He  loves  are  included  in  the  same  discipline 
of  correction,  are  made  sooner  or  later  to  be  able 
to  say,  "Thy  loving  correction  shall  make  me 
great "  (Ps.  xviii.  35).  Of  all  it  is  true  that,  if  not 
scourged,  they  are  not  sons  (Heb.  xii.  8) ;  if  not  re- 
buked and  chastened,  they  are  not  loved.  Not  a 
few,  if  their  prosperity  lasts  a  little  longer  than 
that  of  others,  fancy  that  they  are  to  be  exceptions 
to  this  rule  ;  but  it  is  never  so.  They  can  only  be 
excepted  from  the  discipline  through  being  ex- 
cepted from  the  sonship  ;  as  Augustine  excellently 
well  (Serm.  xlvi.  §  11)  :  "  Flagellat,  inquit,  omnem 
filium  quern  recipit.  Et  tu  forte  exceptus  eris  ?  Si 
exceptus  a  passione  flagellorum,  exceptus  a  numero 
filiorum."  Many  other  beautiful  passages  to  the 
same  effect  may  be  found  in  his  writings ;   thus 


III.  19.]  LAODICEA,  BEV.  III.  14-22.  277 

Enarr.  in  Ps.  xxxi.  11 ;  in  Ps.  xciii.  14 ;  in  Ps. 
cxiv.  5. 

'EXeyxew  and  iraiheveuv  are  often  found  together, 
as  here ;  thus  Ecclus.  xviii.  13  ;  Ps.  cxl.  5  ;  so  too 
ira&eia  and  e\eyx°s>  Prov.  vi.   23,   and   compare 
Heb.  xii.  5  ;   hut  they  are  very  capable  of  being 
distinguished.      ''EXeyxew  is  more   than  liriTiyuav, 
with  which  it  is  often  joined  ;  see  my  Synonyms  of 
the  New  Testament,  §  4.    It  is  so  to  rebuke  that  the 
person  rebuked  is  brought  to  the  acknowledgment 
of  his  fault,  is  convinced,  as  David  was  when  re- 
buked by  Nathan  (2   Sam.  xii.  13)  ;    for,  in   the 
words  of  Aristotle  (Rhet.  ad  Alex.  13),  eXeyxos  icrrc 
/lev  b  fir)  Bvvarbv  aWoos  £XeLV>  &^  ovtcos  a>?  fffiels 
Xeyo/jLev  ;  and  this  rebuking,  or  convincing  of  sin,  is 
eminently  the  work  and  office  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
(John  xvi.  8  ;  cf.  iii.  20  ;  Ephes.  v.  13).     See  upon 
this   subject    an    admirable  note   by  Archdeacon 
Hare  in  his  Mission  of  the  Comforter,  vol.  ii.  p. 
528.    IlaiheveLv,  being  in  classical  Greek  to  instruct, 
to  educate,  is  in  sacred  Greek  to  instruct  or  educate 
oy  means  of  correction,  through  the  severe  disci- 
pline of  love  (jraiBevecv  and  ^ac-rcyovv  are  joined 
together,  Heb.  xii.  6),  "  per  molestias  erudire,"  as 
Augustine  (Enarr.  in  Ps.  cxviii.  66),  tracing  the 
difference  between  its  sacred  and  profane  uses,  ex- 
plains it.     As  David  had  found  his  eXey-fto?  when 
he  exclaimed,  "  I  have  sinned  against  the  Lord " 


278        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA.    [III.  20. 

(2  Sam.  xii.  13),  so  his  irathela  was  announced  to 
him  in  the  words  which  followed  :  "  The  child  also 
that  is  born  nnto  thee  shall  surely  die  "  (ver.  14) — 
which  passage  is  alone  sufficient  to  refute  those  who 
affirm  that  we  have  in  the  iXiy^co  kol  iraihevco  a 
varepov  irporepov.  Not  so.  It  will  indeed  contin- 
ually happen  that  the  same  dealing  of  God  with 
men  is  at  once  eXey^o<;  and  TraiheCa,  but  only  ira&eia 
through  having  been  first  eXeyxos.  This  therefore, 
namely  the  eXeyxos,  rightly  precedes.  Brightman  : 
"  Observandum  est  ilium  arguere  et  castigare  /  id 
est,  convincere  et  plectere.  Simul  enim  sunt  haec 
duo  conjungenda.  Inutilis  est  animadversio,  ubi 
verba  silent,  verbera  sasviunt.  Unde  recte  vocatur 
castigatio,  disciplina  qua  delinquens  una  dolet  et 
discit." — For  tyXcoaov  of  the  received  text,  read 
rather  ^vXeue,  from  tyfXevco,  another  form  of  tyjXoco. 
This  word,  through  £S}\o?  connected  with  fe©  and 
thus  with  £e<7To?  (ver.  15),  is  chosen  as  the  word  of 
exhortation,  with  special  reference  to  the  lukewarm- 
ness  which  the  Lord  so  indignantly  saw  in  the  Lao- 
dicean Church.  It  was  warmth,  heat,  fervency, 
which  He  required  of  it.  St.  Paul  uses  tyjXovv  in  a 
good  sense,  Gal.  iv.  18,  and  also,  which  are  the  best 
parallels  to  its  employment  here,  1  Cor.  xii.  31 ; 
xiv.  1. 

Yer.  20.     "  Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door  and 
knock" — The  Hellenistic  Kpovco  is  here,  as  always 


III.  20.]  LAODICEA,  EEV.  III.  14^22.  279 

in  the  New  Testament,  the  word  used  to  describe 
this  knocking  at  the  door  (Lnke  xii.  36  ;  xiii.  25  ; 
Acts  xii.  13,  16).  The  Greek  purists  preferred 
kotttco  ;  yet  see  Lobeck,  JP7irynichus,  p.  177.  "We 
have  in  these  gracious  words  the  long-suffering  of 
Christ  as  He  waits  for  the  conversion  of  sinners 
(1  Pet.  iii.  20) ;  and  not  alone  the  long-suffering 
which  waits,  but  the  love  which  seeks  to  bring  that 
conversion  about,  which  knocks.  He  at  whose 
door  we  ought  to  stand,  for  He  is  the  Door  (John  x. 
7),  who,  as  such,  has  bidden  us  to  knock  (Matt.  vii. 
7  ;  Luke  xi.  9),  is  content  that  the  whole  relation 
between  Him  and  us  should  be  reversed,  and  in- 
stead of  our  standing  at  his  door,  condescends  Him- 
self to  stand  at  ours, — Svpavkelv,  as  the  Greeks 
termed  this  waiting  and  watching  at  the  door  of  the 
beloved.  Very  beautiful  on  the  matter  of  this  in- 
finite condescension  on  his  part  are  the  words  of 
Nicolaus  Cabasilas,  a  Greek  divine  of  the  fourteenth 
century  :  6  irepl  tovs  av0pa)7rov$  epcos  tov  &ebv  e'/ee- 
vcocrev.  ov  yap  Kara  x^Pav  pevtov  /caXel  7rpo9  wvtov, 
bv  i(f)i\7)cre  SovXov,  aXX*  avrbs  forec  /careXOcov,  teal 
7T/50?  ttjv  fcaraycdyrjv  a^CKvelrat  tov  7riv7jT0<;  6  irXov- 
tcov,  ical  irpoa-eXQcov  Sc  eavrov  firjvvei  tov  ttoOov,  koX 
fyrel  to  icrov,  zeal  airafyovvTos  ovtc  afa'aTciTcu,  teal 
7rpo?  tt]V  vftptv  ov  Svo-^pcclvet,  teal  SicofCOfjLevos  Trpoa- 
eSpevei  Tats  Svpcus,  teal  iva  tov  ipcovTcc  Beifjy,  irdvTa 
Troiel,  koI  oBvpcbfievos  (j>epeo  teal  airo^vrjcrKei. 


280       EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.    [III.  20. 

"  If  any  man  hear  my  voice,  and  open  the  door, 
I  will  come  in  to  him,  and  will  sup  with  him,  and 
he  with  Me" — Christ  does  not  knock  only ;  He  also 
speaks  ;  makes  his  "  voice  "  to  be  heard — a  more 
precious  benefit  still !  It  is  true  indeed  that  we 
cannot  in  our  interpretation  draw  any  strict  line  of 
distinction  between  Christ's  knocking  and  Christ's 
speaking.  They  both  represent  his  dealings  of  in- 
finite love  with  souls,  for  the  winning  them  to  re- 
ceive Him  ;  yet  at  the  same  time,  considering  that 
in  this  natural  world  a  knock  may  be  any  one's  and 
on  any  errand,  while  the  voice  accompanying  it 
would  at  once  designate  who  it  was  that  was  knock- 
ing, and  with  what  intention  (Acts  xii.  13,  14),  we 
have  a  right,  so  far  as  we  may  venture  to  distinguish 
between  the  two,  to  see  in  the  voice  the  more  inward 
appeal,  the  closer  dealing  of  Christ  with  the  soul, 
speaking  directly  by  his  Spirit  to  the  spirit  of  the 
man  ;  in  the  knocking  those  more  outward  gracious 
dealings,  of  sorrow  and  joy,  of  sickness  and  health, 
and  the  like,  which  He  sends,  and  sending  uses  for 
the  bringing  of  his  elect,  in  one  way  or  another, 
by  smooth  paths  or  by  rough,  to  Himself.  The 
"  voice  "  very  often  will  interpret  and  make  intel- 
ligible the  purpose  of  the  "  knock." 

But  that  "  knock  "  and  this  "  voice  "  may  both 
remain  unheard  and  unheeded.  It  is  in  the  power 
of  every  man  to  close  his  ear  to  them  ;  therefore  the 


III.  20.]  LAODICEA,  EEV.  III.  14-22.  281 

hypothetical  form  which  this  gracious  promise 
takes  :  "if  any  man  hear  my  voice,  and  open  the 
doorP  There  is  no  gratia  irresistibilis  here.  It  is 
the  man  himself  who  must  open  the  door.  Christ 
indeed  knocks,  claims  admittance  as  to  his  own  ;  so 
lifts  up  his  voice  that  it  may  be  heard,  in  one  sense 
must  be  heard,  by  him ;  but  He  does  not  break 
open  the  door,  or  force  an  entrance  by  violence. 
There  is  a  sense  in  which  man  is  lord  of  the  house 
of  his  own  heart ;  it  is  for  him  to  open,  and  unless 
he  does  so,  Christ  cannot  enter.  And,  as  a  neces- 
sary complement  of  this  power  to  open,  there  be- 
longs also  to  man  the  mournful  prerogative  and 
privilege  of  refusing  to  open  :  he  may  keep  the  door 
shut,  even  to  the  end.  He  may  thus  continue  to 
the  last  blindly  at  strife  with  his  own  blessedness ; 
a  miserable  conqueror,  who  conquers  to  his  own 
everlasting  loss  and  defeat. 

At  the  same  time  these  words  of  Christ,  decisive 
testimony  as  they  yield  against  that  scheme  of  irre- 
sistible grace  which  would  turn  men  into  mere 
machines,  and  take  away  all  moral  value  from  the 
victories  which  Christ  obtains  over  the  sullenness, 
the  pride,  the  obstinacy,  the  rebellion  of  men,  must 
not  be  pushed,  as  some  have  pushed  them,  in  the 
other  direction,  into  Pelagian  error  and  excess  ;  as 
though  men  could  open  the  door  of  their  heart 
when  they  would  ;    as  though  repentance  was  not 


282        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.    [III.  20. 

itself  a  gift  of  the  exalted  Saviour  (Acts  v.  31). 
They  can  only  open  when  Christ  knocks  ;  and  they 
would  have  no  desire  at  all  to  open  unless  He 
knocked,  and  unless,  together  with  the  external 
knocking  of  the  "Word,  or  of  sorrow,  or  of  pain,  or 
whatever  other  shape  it  might  assume,  there  went 
also  the  inward  voice  of  the  Spirit.  All  which  one 
would  affirm  is  that  this  is  a  drawing,  not  a  drag- 
ging— a  knocking  at  the  door,  not  a  breaking  open 
of  the  door.  Hilary  has  here  some  words  very 
much  to  the  point  {In  Ps.  cxviii.  89) :  "  Yult  ergo 
semper  introire  ;  sed  a  nobis  ne  introeat  excluditur. 
Ipse  quidem  semper  ut  illuminet  promptus  est ;  sed 
lumen  sibi  domus  ipsa  obseratis  aditibus  excludit. 
Quos  si  cceperit  patere,  illico  introibit,  modo  sol  is, 
qui  clausis  fenestras  valvis  introire,  prohibetur, 
patentibus  vero  totus  immittitur.  Est  enim  Yer- 
bum  Dei  Sol  justitise,  adsistens  unicnique  ut  in- 
troeat, nee  moratur  lucem  suam  repertis  aditibus 
infundere." 

Some,  wishing  to  decry  the  Song  of  Solomon,  to 
take  it  from  its  place  in  the  Canon,  and  to  set  it 
down  as  a  mere  human  love-poem,  an  idyl  of  an 
earthly  love,  have  affirmed  that  there  is  no  single 
allusion  to  it  in  the  New  Testament.  This  state- 
ment is  altogether  without  warrant.  In  the  words 
we  have  been  just  considering  there  is  an  undoubt- 
ed allusion  to  Cant.  v.  2-6  ;  where  indeed  the  very 


IIL  20.1  LAODICEA,  REV.  III.  14-22.  283 

language  which  Christ  uses  here,  the  Kpoveiv  eVt  ttjv 
3-vpav,  the  summons  dvolyecv  recurs.  Nor  is  the 
relation  between  the  one  passage  and  the  other 
merely  superficial  and  verbal.  On  the  contrary,  it 
lies  very  deep.  The  spiritual  condition  of  the  Bride 
there  is  in  fact  precisely  similar  to  that  of  the  Lao- 
dicean Angel  here.  Between  sleeping  and  waking 
she  has  been  so  slow  to  open  the  door,  that  when  at 
length  she  does  so,  the  Bridegroom  has  withdrawn, 
and  she  has  need  to  seek  for  and  to  follow  Him  (ver. 
5,  6).  This  exactly  corresponds  to  the  lukewarmness 
of  the  Angel  here.  See  the  two  passages  brought 
into  closest  connexion  in  this  sense  by  Jerome,  Ep. 
xviii.  ad  Eustochium.  Another  proof  of  the  con- 
nexion between  them  is  this, — that  although  there 
has  been  no  mention  of  any  thing  but  a  knocking 
here,  Christ  goes  on  to  say,  "  If  any  man  hear  my 
voice"  What  can  this  be  but  an  allusion  to  the 
words  in  the  Canticle  which  have  just  gone  before, 
"  It  is  the  voice  of  my  beloved  that  knocketh,  say- 
ing, Open  to  me,  my  sister  "  ?  In  the  face  of  this, 
and  much  more  of  the  same  kind  which  might  be 
adduced,  Ewald  asserts,  "  Cantico  nunquam  utuntur 
Scriptores  Kovi  Testamenti ;  "  and  rather  than  look 
there  for  this  "  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock"  he 
prefers  to  find  an  allusion  here  to  Peter's  standing 
and  knocking  at  the  door  of  Mary's  house  after 
he  was  released  from  prison  by  the  Angel  (Acts  xii. 


284:        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.    [III.  20. 

13, 14) !  "VVe  shall  not  go  far  before  we  find  further 
evidence  of  the  intimate  relation  between  these 
words  of  Christ  and  those  of  the  Bridegroom  in  that 
Book.  We  trace  it  in  the  words  which  immediately 
follow  :  "  and  will  sup  with  him,  and  he  with  Me." 
There  may  possibly  be  in  these  a  more  immediate 
reference  to  Luke  xii.  36  ;  but  that  to  the  Song  of 
Solomon,  because  it  lies  deeper,  must  not  therefore 
be  overlooked.  There  too  the  mutual  feasting  of 
Christ  with  the  soul  which  opens  to  Him,  and  of 
the  soul  with  Him,  is  all  set  forth.  There  too  the 
bride  prepares  a  feast  for  her  Beloved  :  "  Let  my 
Beloved  come  into  his  garden,  and  eat  his  pleasant 
fruits  "  (iv.  16)  ;  but  He  had  first  prepared  one  for 
her :  "  I  sat  down  under  his  shadow  with  great  de- 
light, and  his  fruit  was  sweet  to  my  taste  "  (ii.  3). 
Few,  I  suppose,  would  be  disposed  to  deny  a  mystical 
significance  to  that  meal  after  the  Resurrection  on  the 
shores  of  the  Sea  of  Tiberias,  recorded  with  so  much 
emphasis  by  the  beloved  disciple  (John  xxi.  9-13) ; 
which  wonderfully  fulfils  the  same  conditions,  being 
made  up  of  what  the  disciples  bring  and  what  Christ 
brings.  This  mutual  feasting  of  Christ  with  his  peo- 
ple, and  of  his  people  with  Him,  finds  in  this  present 
life  its  culminating  fulfilment  in  the  Holy  Eucharist ; 
which  yet  is  but  an  initial  fulfilment ;  it  will  only 
find  its  exhaustive  accomplishment  in  the  marriage 
supper  of  the  Lamb  (Rev.  xix.  Y-9  ;  Mark  xiv.  25). 


III.  21.]  LAODICEA,  KEY.  III.   14-22.  285 

Yer.  21.  "  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  grant 
to  sit  vjith  Me  in  my  throne" — A  magnificent  varia- 
tion of  Christ's  words  spoken  in  the  days  of  his 
flesh :  "  The  glory  which  Thou  gavest  Me,  I  have 
given  them.  .  .  .  Father,  I  will  that  they  also 
whom  Thon  hast  given  Me,  be  with  Me  where  I 
am  "  (John  xvii.  22,  24) ;  as  also  of  the  words  of 
St.  Panl,  "  If  we  suffer  with  Him,  we  shall  also 
reign  with  Him  "  (2  Tim.  ii.  12).  Wonderful  indeed 
is  this  promise,  which,  as  the  last  and  the  crowning, 
is  also  the  highest  and  most  glorious  of  all.  Step 
by  step  they  have  advanced,  till  a  height  is  reached 
than  which  no  higher  can  be  conceived.  It  seemed 
much  to  promise  the  Apostles  themselves  that  they 
should  sit  on  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of 
Israel  (Matt.  xix.  28)  ;  but  here  is  promised  to  every 
believer  something  more  than  was  there  promised  to 
the  elect  Twelve.  And  more  wonderful  still,  if  we 
consider  to  whom  this  promise  is  here  addressed. 
He  whom  Christ  threatened  just  now  to  reject  with 
loathing  out  of  his  mouth,  is  offered  a  place  with 
Him  on  his  throne.  But  indeed  so  it  is  ;  the  high- 
est place  is  within  reach  of  the  lowest ;  the  faintest 
spark  of  grace  may  be  fanned  into  the  mightiest 
flame  of  divine  love.  It  will  be  observed  that  the 
image  here  is  not  that  of  sitting  upon  seats  on  the 
right  hand  or  on  the  left  of  Christ's  throne  (1  Kings 
ii.  19),  but  of  sharing  that  throne  itself.     To  under- 


286        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECIIES  IN  ASIA.    [III.  21. 

stand  this,  we  must  keep  in  mind  the  fact,  that  the 
Eastern  throne  is  much  ampler  and  broader  than 
ours  ;  so  that  there  would  be  room  upon  it  for  other 
persons,  besides  him  who  occupied  as  of  right  the 
central  position  there  (Matt.  xx.  21). 

"  Even  as  1  also  overcame,  and  am  set  down 
with  my  Father  in  his  throne" — The  Son  is  <rvv- 
Spovos  with  the  Father  (Wisd.  ix.  4),  as  the  early 
Church  writers  loved  to  express  it,  with  a  word  em- 
ployed already  in  the  heathen  mythology,  perhaps 
borrowed  from  it  (see  Suicer,  s.  v.)  ;  his  faithful 
people  shall  be  irapehpoi  with  Him.  These  words, 
"  I  overcame"  remind  us  of  other  words  spoken  by 
the  Lord  while  as  yet  He  had  not  so  visibly  over- 
come as  now :  "  Be  of  good  cheer,  I  have  overcome 
the  world  "  (John  xvi.  33) ;  and  the  manner  in 
which  the  overcoming  the  world  and  the  sitting 
down  with  his  Father  in  his  throne  are  brought  to- 
gether here,  puts  this  passage  in  closest  connexion 
with  Phil.  ii.  0  :  "  Wherefore  God  also  hath  highly 
exalted  Him,  and  given  Him  a  name  which  is  above 
every  name  ;  "  cf.  Ileb.  i.  3. — On  this  " my  throne" 
and  "my  Father 's  throne"  Joseph  Mede  says  well 
( Works,  p.  905) :  "  Here  are  two  thrones  mentioned. 
My  throne,  saith  Christ ;  this  is  the  condition  of 
glorified  saints  who  sit  with  Christ  in  his  throne ; 
but  my  leather's  (i.e.  God's)  throne  is  the  power  of 
Divine  majesty  ;  herein  none  may  sit  but  God,  and 


III.  22]  LAODICEA,  EEV.  III.  14-22.  287 

the  God-man  Jesus  Christ.  To  he  installed  in  God's 
throne,  to  sit  at  God's  right  hand,  is  to  have  a  god- 
like royalty,  such  as  his  Father  hath,  a  royalty  alto- 
gether incommunicable,  whereof  no  creature  is  ca- 
pable." 

Ver.  22.  "  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear 
what  the  Spirit  Saith  unto  the  Churches." — Compare 
ii.  7. 

A  few  words  in  conclusion  upon  the  order  in 
which  the  promises  of  the  seven  Epistles  follow  one 
another.  It  is  impossible  not  to  acknowledge  such 
an  order  here, — an  order  parallel  to  that  of  the  un- 
folding of  the  kingdom  of  God  from  its  first  begin- 
nings on  earth  to  its  glorious  consummation  in  heaven. 
Thus  the  promise  of  Christ  to  the  faithful  at  Ephe- 
sus  is,  that  He  will  give  them  to  eat  of  the  tree  of 
life  which  is  in  the  Paradise  of  God  (ii.  7) ;  thus 
taking  us  back  to  Genesis  i.  and  ii.  But  sin  pres- 
ently entered  into  Paradise,  and  death,  the  seal  and 
witness  of  sin  (Gen.  iii.  19) ;  but  for  the  faithful  at 
Smyrna, — and  the  promise  that  is  good  for  them  is 
good  for  the  faithful  every  where,— this  curse  of 
death  is  lightened.  It  shall  be  but  the  gate  of  im- 
mortality, for  "  he  that  overcometh  shall  not  he  hurt 
of  the  second  death  "  (ii.  11).  The  next  promise, 
that  to  the  faithful  at  Pergamum,  brings  us  to  the 
Mosaic  period,  to  the  Church  in  the  wilderness  : 


288        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.     [III.  22- 

"  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give  to  eat  of  the 
hidden  manna  "  (ii.  17)  ;  and  if  tlie  interpretation 
of  the  "  white  stone "  which  lias  been  ventured 
here  is  the  right  one,  that  promise  will  also  fall  in 
perfectly  with  the  wilderness  period  and  the  institu- 
tion of  the  high-priesthood,  which  at  that  period 
found  place.  In  the  fourth,  that  namely  to  Thya- 
tira,  we  have  reached  the  full  and  final  consumma- 
tion, in  type  and  prophetic  outline,  of  the  kingdom, 
the  period  of  David  and  Solomon, — the  triumph. 
over  the  nations,  the  Church  sharing  in  the  royal- 
ties of  her  king  (ii.  26,  27).  Every  reader  will  re- 
cognize this  as  a  characteristic  feature  of  those 
reigns  (2  Sam.  x.  19  ;  xii.  29,  30 ;  1  Chron.  xvii. 
1-13). 

Here  there  is  a  pause  ;  and  with  this  consumma- 
tion reached,  than  which  in  type  and  prophecy 
there  can  be  nothing  higher,  a  new  series  begins ; 
the  heptad  falling,  as  is  so  constantly  the  case,  into 
two  groups ;  either  of  three  and  four,  as  in  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  or  of  four  and  three,  as  here.  And 
now  the  scenery,  if  I  may  use  the  word,  changes  ; 
it  is  not  any  longer  of  earth,  but  of  heaven.  The 
kingdom,  not  of  David,  but  of  David's  Son,  has 
come  ;  all  his  foes  are  under  his  feet ;  his  Church  is 
not  any  longer  contemplated  as  militant,  but  tri- 
umphant ;  and  in  the  succession  of  the  three  last 
promises  we  learn  that  even  for  the  Church  trium- 


III.  22.]  LAODICEA,  REV.  III.  14-22.  289 

pliant  there  are  steps  and  advances  from  glory  to 
glory.  Thus,  in  the  promise  addressed  to  the  Angel 
of  Sardis,  we  have  the  blessings  of  the  judgment-day, 
.he  name  found  written  in  the  book  of  life,  Christ's 
confession  of  his  own  before  his  Father,  the  vesture 
of  light  and  immortality,  in  other  words,  the  glori- 
fied body  which  it  shall  be  then  given  to  the  saints 
to  wear  (iii.  5).  This,  however,  is  a  personal,  a 
solitary  benefit,  belonging  to  each  of  them  alone ; 
not  so  the  next.  In  the  promise  made  to  the  faith- 
ful at  Philadelphia,  it  is  declared  that  as  many  as 
overcome  shall  have  right  to  enter  by  the  gates  into 
the  heavenly  City,  where  City  and  Temple  are  one, 
shall  be  themselves  avouched  members  of  that 
heavenly  iroXireia,  and  shall  have  their  place  in  it 
for  evermore  (iii.  12).  And  then,  it  having  thus 
been  declared  what  they  have  in  themselves,  name- 
ly, the  glorified  body,  and  what  they  have  in  and  with 
the  company  of  the  redeemed,  the  citizenship  of  the 
heavenly  Jerusalem,  it  is,  last  of  all,  in  the  conclud- 
ing words  to  the  Angel  of  Laodicea,  declared  what 
they  possess  with  God  and  with  Christ ;  that  it  shall 
be  granted  to  them  to  sit  down  with  Christ  on  his 
throne,  as  He  has  sat  down  with  his  Father  in  his 
Father's  throne  (iii.  21).  There  can  be  nothing  be- 
hind and  beyond  this  ;  and  with  this  therefore  is 
the  close.  It  is  here,  to  compare  divine  things  with 
human,  as  in  the  Paradiso  of  Dante.    There,  too, 

13 


290        EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES  IN  ASIA.    [III.  22. 

there  are  different  circles  of  light  around  the  throne, 
each,  as  it  is  nearer  to  the  throne,  of  an  intenser 
brightness  than  that  beyond  it  and  more  remote,  till 
at  last,  "when  all  the  others  have  been  past,  the 
throne  itself  is  reached,  and  the  very  Presence  of 
Him  who  sits  upon  the  throne,  and  from  whom  all 
this  light  and  this  glory  flows. 


EXCURSUS 


ON  THE  HISTORICO-PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION  OF 
THE  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  OF  ASIA. 


It  is,  doubtless,  familiar  to  as  many  as  have  at  all 
gone  into  the  history  of  the  exposition  of  these  seven 
Epistles,  that  a  large  body  of  interpreters,  several 
of  these  distinguished  for  their  piety  and  their  learn- 
ing, have  not  been  content  to  take  them  merely  for 
what  they  seem  to  aim  ounce  themselves  to  be,  seven 
Epistles  of  instruction,  warning,  consolation,  addrest 
by  the  great  Bishop  of  the  Church  to  seven  Church- 
es of  Asia  ;  but  have  loudly  proclaimed  that  they 
look  much  farther  than  this,  that  they  contain  far 
deeper  mysteries  than  these.  In  the  Scripture  are 
such  depths  of  meaning,  so  much  remains  to  be  dis- 
covered in  them,  in  addition  to  all  which  has  yet 
been  discovered,  that  any  one,  whose  incapacity  is 
not  patent,  has  a  right  to  claim  from  us  a  patient 
and  attentive  ear,  when  he  offers  to  lead  us  into 
these  depths,  to  show  us  that,  where  we  thought 
there  were  but  golden  harvests,  the  food  of  all  wav- 


§92      ON  THE  HISTORICO-PEOPHETICAL  INTEEPEETATION 

ing  upon  the  surface,  there  are  also  veins  of  richest 
metal  below,  the  wealth  of  those  who  will  be  at  the 
pains  to  dig  for  these  hid  treasures.  And  yet,  at 
the  same  time,  before  we  accept  any  such  discoveries 
of  treasures  hid  in  the  field  of  Scripture,  it  will  be 
good  always  to  remember,  that  there  is  a  temptation 
to  make  Scripture  mean  more  than  in  the  intention 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  it  does  mean,  as  well  as  a  tempta- 
tion to  make  it  mean  less  ;  and  that  we  are  bound 
by  equally  solemn  obligations  not  to  put  upon  it 
something  of  ours,  as  not  to  subtract  from  it  any 
thing  of  its  own  (Rev.  xxii.  18,  19)  ;  the  interpreta- 
tion in  excess  proving  often  nearly,  or  quite,  as  mis- 
chievous as  that  in  defect.  One  has  well  said, 
"  Mali  moris  est  sensum  in  S.  Scripturam  inferre,  non 
efferre  /  "  and  yet  it  is  a  practice  which  is  by  no 
means  unusual.  To  inquire  into  the  motives  which 
induce  to  it  would  lead  me  too  far  from  my  imme- 
diate subject ;  and  some  of  them  will,  I  think,  ap- 
pear before  this  essay  is  concluded. 

But  what,  it  may  be  asked,  is  this  wider  horizon, 
which,  if  we  would  meet  the  Divine  intention,  it  is 
declared  to  us  we  should  ascribe  to  these  Epistles, 
and  what  the  deeper  mysteries  which  they  contain  ? 
Before  I  attempt  to  answer  this,  let  me  first,  by  way 
of  clearing  the  ground,  set  down  what  all  are  agreed 
on,  matter  on  which  there  is  no  dispute ;  and  then 
secondly,  that   which,  if  not  all,  yet  the   greater 


OF  THE  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES.        293 

number  of  competent  persons  would  admit ;  that  so, 
this  done,  and  these  points  of  universal  or  general 
agreement  separated  off,  we  may  better  present  to 
ourselves  what  are  the  precise  points  on  which  the 
controversy  turns. 

All,  then,  are  agreed,  and  would  freely  allow, 
that  these  seven  Epistles,  however  primarily  addrest 
to  these  seven  Churches  of  Asia,  were  also  written 
for  the  edification  of  the  Universal  Church  ;  in  the 
same  way,  that  is,  as  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Ro- 
mans, or  to  Timothy,  or  St.  James'  to  the  Dispersion, 
were  written  with  this  intention.  The  warnings, 
the  incentives,  the  promises,  the  consolations,  and, 
generally,  the  whole  instruction  in  righteousness  in 
these  contained,  are  for  every  one  in  all  times,  so 
far  as  they  may  meet  the  several  cases  and  condi- 
tions of  men  ;  what  Christ  says  to  those  here  addrest 
He  says  to  all  in  similar  conditions.  So  far  there 
can  be  no  question.  "  All  Scripture,"  and  there- 
fore this  Scripture,  "  was  written  for  our  learning." 

But  further,  it  may  not  meet  with  such  universal 
acceptance,  yet  will,  I  suppose,  be  admitted  by 
many  thoughtful  students  of  God's  Word,  proba- 
bly by  most  who  have  entered  into  the  mystery 
of  the  heptad  in  Scripture,  that  these  seven 
Churches  of  Asia  are  not  an  accidental  aggrega- 
tion, which  might  just  as  conveniently  have  been 
eight,  or  six,  or  any  other  number ;  that,  on  the  con- 


294:     ON  THE  HISTORIC O-PEOPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION 

trary,  there  is  a  fitness  in  this  number,  and  that 
these  seven  do  in  some  sort  represent  the  Universal 
Church ;  that  we  have  a  right  to  contemplate  the 
seven  as  offering  to  us  the  great  and  leading  as- 
pects, moral  and  spiritual,  which  Churches  gath- 
ered in  the  name  of  Christ  out  of  the  world  will 
assume.  No  one,  of  course,  affirming  this,  would 
mean  that  they  could  be  contemplated  as  exhaus- 
tive of  these  aspects ;  for  the  infinite  depth  and 
richness  of  that  new  life  which  Christ  brought  into 
the  world  testifies  itself  in  nothing  more  than  in 
this,  the  rich  variety  of  forms  which  this  new  life 
of  his,  embodying  itself  in  the  lives  of  men,  will 
assume,  the  very  malformations  themselves  witness- 
ing in  this  way  for  the  fulness  of  this  life.  But 
though  not  exhaustive  (for  what  could  be  that?), 
they  give  us  on  a  smaller  scale,  &>?  iv  tvttco,  the 
grander  and  more  recurring  features  of  that  life ; 
are  not  fragmentary,  fortuitously  strung  together ; 
but  have  a  completeness,  a  many-sidedness,  being 
probably  selected  for  this  very  cause ;  here,  per- 
haps, being  the  reason  why  Philadelphia  is  in- 
cluded and  Miletus  past  by  ;  Thyatira,  outwardly 
so  insignificant,  chosen,  when  one  might  have  ex- 
pected Magnesia  or  Tralles.  Then  what  notable 
contrasts  have  we  here, — a  Church  face  to  face 
with  danger  and  death  (Smyrna),  and  a  Church  at 
ease,  settling  down  upon  its  lees  (Sardis)  ;  a  Church 


OF  THE  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES.         295 

with  abundant  means  and  loud  profession,  yet  do- 
ing little  or  nothing  for  the  furtherance  of  the  truth 
(Laodicea),  and  a  Church  with  little  strength  and 
little  power,  yet  accomplishing  a  mighty  work  for 
Christ  (Philadelphia)  ;  a  Church  intolerant  of  doc- 
trinal error,  yet  too  much  lacking  that  love  towards 
its  Lord  for  which  nothing  else  is  a  substitute  (Eph- 
esus),  and  over  against  this  a  Church  not  careful 
nor  zealous,  as  it  ought  to  be,  for  doctrinal  purity, 
but  diligent  in  the  work  and  ministry  of  love  (Thy- 
atira) ;  or,  to  review  these  same  Churches  from 
another  point  of  view,  a  Church  in  conflict  with 
heathen  libertinism,  the  sinful  freedom  of  the  flesh 
(Ephesus),  and  a  Church  or  Churches  in  conflict 
with  Jewish  superstition,  the  sinful  bondage  of  the 
spirit  (Pergamum,  Philadelphia) ;  or,  for  the  indo- 
lence of  man  a  more  perilous  case  than  either, 
Churches  with  no  active  forms  of  opposition  to  the 
truth  in  the  midst  of  them,  to  brace  their  energies 
and  to  cause  them,  in  the  act  of  defending  the  im- 
perilled truth,  to  know  it  better  and  to  love  it  more 
(Sardis,  Laodicea).  That  these  Churches  are  more 
or  less  representative  Churches,  and  were  selected 
because  they  are  so ;  that  they  form  a  complex 
within  and  among  themselves,  mutually  fulfilling 
and  completing  one  another ;  that  the  great  Head 
of  the  Church  contemplates  them  for  the  time  being 
as  symbolic  of  his  Universal  Church,  implying  as 


296      O^  THE  HISTORICO-PEOPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION 

much  in  that  mystic  seven,  and  giving  many  other 
indications  of  the  same, — this  also  will  be  accepted, 
if  not  by  all,  yet  by  many. 

But  the  Periodists,  as  they  have  been  called, 
the  upholders  of  what  may  be  fitly  termed  the  his- 
torico-prophetical  scheme  of  interpretation,  are  by 
no  means  satisfied  with  these  admissions.  They  de- 
mand that  we  should  recognize  in  these  Epistles 
very  much  more  than  this ;  they  affirm  that  we 
have  in  them,  besides  counsels  to  the  Churches 
named  in  each,  a  prophetic  outline  of  seven  suc- 
cessive periods  of  the  Church's  history ;  dividing, 
as  they  do,  into  these  seven  portions  the  whole 
time  intervening  between  Christ's  ascension  and 
his  return  in  glory.  As  in  making  a  statement  for 
others,  especially  for  those  from  whom  one  is  about 
to  dissent,  it  is  always  fairest,  or,  at  any  rate,  is 
most  satisfactory,  to  cite  their  own  words,  I  will 
here  quote  two  passages,  one  from  Joseph  Mede, 
another  from  Yitringa,  in  which  they  severally  set 
forth  that  historico-prophetical  scheme  ;  which  they 
both  favoured  and  upheld  ;  and  certainly  the  state- 
ment of  the  case  could  scarcely  be  in  more  prudent 
or  in  abler  hands.  The  modesty  with  which  the 
first  propounds  it,  is  in  striking  contrast  with  the 
arrogant  confidence  of  some  others,  who  were  well 
nigh  disposed  to  make  here  a  new  article  of  faith, 
and  the  acceptance  or  rejection  of  this  interpreta- 


OF  THE  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCHES.        297 

tion  a  test  of  orthodoxy.  These  are  his  words ; 
they  occur  in  one  of  his  sermons  (  Works,  1672,  p. 
296) :  "  It  belongs  not  much  to  our  purpose  to  in- 
quire whether  those  seven  Epistles  concern  histori- 
cally and  literally  only  the  Churches  here  named, 
or  whether  they  were  intended  for  types  or  ages  of 
the  Church  afterwards  to  come.  It  shall  be  suffi- 
cient to  say,  that  if  we  consider  their  number,  be- 
ing seven  (which  is  a  number  of  revolution  of 
times,  and  therefore  in  this  Book  the  seals,  trum- 
pets, and  vials  also  are  seven)  ;  or  if  we  consider 
the  choice  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  that  he  taketh 
neither  all,  no,  nor  the  most  famous  Churches  then 
in  the  world,  as  Antioch,  Alexandria,  Rome,  and 
many  other,  and  such,  no  doubt,  as  had  need  of  in- 
struction as  well  as  those  here  named ;  if  these 
things  be  well  considered,  it  will  seem  that  these 
seven  Churches,  besides  their  literal  respect,  were 
intended  (and  it  may  be  chiefly)  to  be  as  patterns 
and  types  of  the  several  ages  of  the  Catholic 
Church  from  the  beginning  thereof  unto  the  end  of 
the  world ;  that  so  these  seven  Churches  should 
prophetically  sample  unto  us  a  sevenfold  temper 
and  constitution  of  the  whole  Church  according  to 
the  several  ages  thereof,  answering  the  pattern  of 
the  Churches  named  here ; "  compare  p.  905. 
Yitringa  (Anacrisis  Apocalypsios,  p.  32) :  "  Om- 
nino  igitur  existimo  Spiritum   S.  sub  typo  et  em- 

13* 


298      ON  THE  HISTOEICO-PEOPHETICAL  INTEEPEETATION 

blemate  septem  Ecclesiarum  Asise  nobis  mystice  et 
prophetice  voluisse  depingere  septem  variantes  sta- 
tus Ecclesise  Christians,  quibus  successive  conspi- 
ceretur  usque  ad  adventum  Domini  et  omnium 
rerum  finem,  phrasibus  desumptis  a  nominibus, 
conditione  et  attributis  ipsarum  illarum  Ecclesi- 
arum Asise  nobiliorum,  quse  ad  hunc  usum  et  sco- 
pum  sapienter  adliibuit ;  sic  tamen  ut  ipsse  illse 
Ecclesise  Asianse  simul  in  hoc  speculo  se  ipsas 
videre,  suasque  tarn  virtutes  quam  vitfa  ex  illis 
epistolis  cognoscere,  et  quse  in  iis  sunt  admonitio- 
nes  et  exhortationes  ad  se  ipsas  quoque  referre  et 
applicare  possent  ;  quippe  quod  summa  suadet 
jubetque  ratio.  Quod  enim  alterius  rei  typum  et 
figuram  sustinebit  symbolicam,  ita  afTectum  esse 
oportet  ut  attributa  subjecti  analogi  in  ipsa  ilia  re 
figurante  omnium  primo  demonstrari  possint." 

I  have  cited  these  two  writers  of  a  later  age ; 
but  the  scheme  itself,  in  one  shape  or  another,  may 
be  traced  to  a  much  earlier  date  ;  though,  indeed, 
it  is  very  far  from  being  as  old  as  its  favourers 
would  have  us  to  believe,  claiming,  as  not  seldom 
they  do,  several  of  the  early  Fathers,  as  early  at 
least  as  Augustine  and  Chrysostom,  for  the  first 
authors  and  upholders  of  it.  They  are,  however, 
quite  without  warrant  in  this.  No  passage  has 
been  quoted,  and  I  am  convinced  none  could  bo 
quoted,  bearing  out  their  assertion  here.     In  the 


OF  THE  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES.         299 

eager  debate  carried  on  upon  this  subject  for  a  con- 
siderable part  of  a  century,  tbe  opponents  of  this  in- 
terpretation repeatedly  challenged  the  advocates  to 
bring  forward  a  single  quotation  from  one  Father, 
Greek  or  Latin,  in  its  support ;  but  none  such 
was  ever  produced ;  so  that  Witsius  has  perfect 
right  when  he  affirms,  "  ISTullibi  id  clicunt  [antiqui] 
quod  viri  isti  eruditi  volunt,  quibuscum  heec  nobis 
instituta  disputatio  est ;  nimirum  proprie,  literal- 
iter  atque  ex  intentione  Spiritus  Sancti  verbis 
harum  Epistolarum  delineari,  non  quod  Johannis 
tempore  in  Asise  Ecclesiis  agebatur,  sed  quod  in 
universali  Ecclesia  septem  temporum  periodis  or- 
dine  succedentibus  futurum  erat.  Id  non  liquet 
antiquorum  ulli  vel  in  mentem  venisse."  This 
quotation  is  from  his  essay,  De  Septem  Eccles. 
Apocalyp.  sensu  Jiistorico  an  prophetico  {Opp.  t.  i. 
pp.  640-741),  remarkable  for  the  fairness  and  mod- 
eration with  which  all  that  can  be  said  on  one  side 
and  the  other  is  considered.  It  is  quite  true  that 
Augustine,  with  others  before  and  after  him,  recog- 
nized that  symbolic  representative  character  of 
these  Epistles,  of  which  I  just  now  spoke ;  saw  a 
mystery  in  the  seven ;  *  but  to  recognize  them  as 

1  Andreas,  the  earliest  commentator  on  the  Apocalypse  whose 
work  has  reached  us,  gives  this  as  the  reason  why  the  Lord,  through 
St.  John,  addressed  Himself  exactly  to  seven  Churches ;  Sio  rod  e£5o- 
(lariKov  apiBfiov  to  iivcrrucbv  tG>v  airavrax!)  £KKKi)o~i(av  crjixaivav.      Au- 


300     ON  THE  HTSTOEICO-PEOPHETICAL  INTERPEETATION 

historico-prophetical  is  quite  a  different  matter, 
and  of  any  allowance  of  this  there  is  no  vestige 
among  them  ;  or  that  it  had  so  much  as  come  into 
their  minds. 

The  Spiritualists,  or  extreme  Franciscans,  are  the 
first  among  whom  this  scheme  of  interpretation  as- 
sumed any  prominence.  It  is  well  known  to  those 
who  are  at  all  familiar  with  this  wTonderful  body 
of  men,  what  an  important  part  the  distribution  of 
the  Church's  history  into  seven  ages  played  in  their 
theology,  and  what  weapons  they  found  in  this  ar- 
moury for  the  assault  of  the  dominant  Church  and 
hierarchy  of  Rome.  Looking  every  where  in  Scrip- 
ture for  traces  of  these  seven  periods,  it  is  not 
strange  that  they  should  have  found  such  in  these 
seven  Epistles.  At  their  first  rise,  one  but  recently 
dead,  high  in  reputation  for  sanctity  throughout 

gustine  {Be  Civ.  Bei,  xvii.  4),  explaining  the  Canticle  of  Hannah,  in 
which  it  is  said,  "The  barren  hath  born  seven"  (1  Sam.  ii.  5),  goes 
on  to  say,  "  Ilic  totum  quod  prophetabatur  eluxit  agnoscentibus 
numcrum  'septenarium  quo  est  universa  Ecclesiac  significata  perfeetio. 
Froptcr  quod  et  Johannes  Apostolus  ad  septem  scribit  Ecclesias,  eo 
modo  sc  ostendcns  ad  unius  plenitudinem  scribere ; "  or,  as  the  last 
clause  of  a  similar  statement  reads  elsewhere  {Exp.  in  Gal.  ii.  7): 
"  quEe  [Ecclesiae]  utique  universalis  Ecclesise  personam  gerunt ;  "  cf. 
Ep.  xlix.  §  2.  And  Gregory  the  Great  almost  word  for  word  {Moral. 
xvii.  27):  "Undo  ct  septem  Ecclesiis  scribit  Johannes  Apostolus,  ut 
unam  Catholicam,  septiformis  gratioc  plcnam  Spiritu  designaret ; "  cf. 
Prctf.  c.  8. 


OP  THE  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES.         301 

the  Church,  himself  regarded  as  little  short  of  an 
apocalyptic  seer,  I  mean  the  Abbot  Joachim  of 
Floris  (he  died  in  1202),  had  already  shown  the 
way  in  this  interpretation ; x  and  the  Spiritualists 
did  not  fail  to  adjust  the  seven  ages  of  the  Church 
and  the  seven  Epistles  prophetic  of  them,  so  as 
these  should  prophesy  all  good  of  themselves,  and 
all  evil  of  Rome. 

It  is  evident  that  when  the  scheme  was  adopted 
two  or  three  centuries  later  by  theologians  of  the 
Reformed  Church,  it  would  require  readjustment 
and  redistribution  throughout,  at  once  chronological 
and  dogmatic.  This,  however,  was  easily  effected. 
The  whole  thing  was  a  subjective  fancy  of  men's 
minds,  not  an  objective  truth  of  God's  Word,  and 
would  therefore  oppose  no  serious  resistance.  It 
was  easy  to  give  it  what  new  shape  was  required 
by  the  new  conditions  under  which  it  should  now 
appear.  After  the  Reformation,  the  first  in  whom 
I  meet  this  interpretation  of  the  seven  Churches,  as 
predictive  of  the  seven  ages  of  the  Church  and  fore- 
shadowing their  condition,  is  an  English  divine, 
Thomas  Brightman  (b.  155T,  d.  1607).  He  be- 
longed to  the  Puritan  school  of  divines,  as  they 
existed  within  the  bosom  of  the  Anglican  Church, 

1  For  an  account  of  Joachim  of  Floris5  seven  ages,  see  Hahn, 
Gesch.  d.  Ketzer  im  Mittelalter,  vol.  iii.  p.  112;  and  Engelhardt, 
Kirch.  Gesch.  Abhandl.  p.  107. 


302     ON  THE  HISTORICO-PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION 

and  though  in  opposition  to  its  spirit,  not  as  yet 
separated  from  it ;  but  his  work,  Apocdlypsis  Apoc- 
dlypseos,  1612,  avouches  him  a  man  of  no  ordinary 
gifts,  and  of  warm  and  earnest  piety ;  and  Marckius 
has  perfect  right  when  he  says  of  this  work,  "  eru- 
ditionem  et  pietatem  non  vulgarem  spirat."  But 
although  he,  and  Joseph  Mede,  as  we  have  seen 
(he  died  in  1638),  and  Henry  More,1  lent  to  this 
suggestion  the  authority  of  their  names,  it  never 
seems  to  have  struck  any  vigorous  root  in  England, 
nor  to  have  stirred  up  much  controversy  for  or 
against  it.  It  was  in  the  Eeformed  Churches  of 
Holland  and  Germany,  but  predominantly  in  the 
former,  that  this  periodic  interpretation  first  as- 
sumed any  prominence  or  importance.  There  in- 
deed, during  the  middle  and  latter  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century  and  beginning  of  the  eight- 
eenth, it  was  debated  with  animation,  and  often 
with  something  more  than  animation.  The  very 
able  Prcefatio  de  Septem  JSF.  T.  Periodis,  which 
Marckius  has  prefixed  to  his  Commentary  on  the 
Apocalypse,  1699,  shows  how  very  angry  the  dis- 
putants could  be  on  one  side  and  the  other. 

The  theologian  who  by  his  adoption  of  the  his- 
torico-prophetical    interpretation    gave   an   impor- 

1  Prophetical  Exposition  of  the  Seven  Ej>i  sties  sent  to  the  Seven 
Churches  in  Asia  from  Him  that  is,  and  icas,  and  is  to  come, — Tlieo- 
lor/ical  Works,  London,  1708,  pp.  719-764;  first  published  in  1669. 


OF  THE  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES.         303 

tance  to  it,  and  procured  for  it  an  acceptance, 
which  in  any  other  way  it  would  scarcely  have 
obtained,  was  Cocceius  (1603-1669).  It  is  indeed 
with  him  only  the  part  of  a  larger  whole — one 
among  many  testimonies  for  a  divinely-intended 
division  into  seven  periods  of  the  whole  history  of 
the  Church.  This  division  found  favour  with  many ; 
but  in  no  one  does  it  recur  with  so  great  a  frequency, 
exercise  so  powerful  an  influence  on  his  interpreta- 
tion of  Scripture,  constitute  so  vital  a  portion  of 
his  theology,  as  in  him.  The  fame  of  Cocceius,  if 
it  ever  reached  England,  has  now  quite  passed 
away  ;  but  his  influence  for  good  on  the  Protestant 
communities  of  Holland  and  also  of  Germany,  as 
the  promoter  of  a  Biblical  in  place  of  a  scholastical 
theology,  leading  as  he  did  those  Churches  from 
the  arid  wastes  of  a  new  scholasticism  to  the  living 
fountains  of  the  "Word  of  God,  was  immense,  and 
survives  to  the  present  day.  But  this  distribution 
into  seven  periods  of  the  Church's  history,  seven 
before  Christ's  coming,  and  seven  after,  is  a  sort  of 
"  fixed  idea  "  with  him.  It  is  indeed  his  desire  to 
make  Scripture  the  rule  in  every  thing,  and  to  find 
all  that  concerns  the  spiritual  life  and  development 
of  man  cast  in  a  scriptural  framework,  this  desire 
in  season  and  out  of  season,  which  has  led  him 
astray.  And  thus  it  is  that  he  finds,  or  where  he 
does  not  find  he  makes,  a  prophecy  of  these  periods 


304:     ON  THE  HISTORICO-PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION 

every  where  ;  in  the  seven  days  of  creation,  in  the 
seven  beatitudes,  in  the  seven  petitions  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  in  the  seven  parables  of  Matthew  xiii. ;  not 
seldom  forcing  into  artificial  arrangements  by  seven, 
Scriptures  which  yield  themselves  not  naturally  and 
of  their  own  accord,  but  only  under  violent  pres- 
sure and  constraint,  to  any  articulation  of  the  kind, 
as  Hannah's  Prayer,  the  Song  of  Moses,  of  Deb- 
orah, the  Song  of  Songs,  not  a  few  of  the  Psalms, 
and,  I  dare  say,  much  else  in  Scripture  besides.1 

With  all  his  excesses,  however,  I  do  not  think 
Cocceius  ever  refused  to  these  Epistles  a  true  his- 
torical foundation.  The  historico-prophetic  mean- 
ing was  no  doubt  far  the  most  precious  in  his 
eyes ;  and  it  had  good  right  to  be,  if  only  it  had 

1  Let  me  rescue  from  vast  unread  folios  of  his,  as  not  very  alien 
to  the  matter  we  have  in  hand,  one  noble  passage,  and  he  abounds  in 
such,  on  the  analogy  of  faith,  and  the  help  which  the  different  por- 
tions of  Scripture  mutually  afford  to  the  right  understanding  of  one 
another.  It  is  from  the  Prccfatio  ad  Comm.  in  Proph.  Min.,  Opp. 
torn,  v.,  without  pagination:  "  Ilabet  enim  divina  institutio  Scripturoe 
instar  augusti  palatii,  in  quo  ordine  consideant  innumeri  seniorcs,  qui 
viritim  admissum  novum  discipulum  erudiant,  a  collegis  suis  dicta 
confirment,  roborent,  explicent,  illustrent,  nunc  fusius  dicta  contra- 
hant,  nunc  contractiora  diffundant  et  diducant,  gcneralius  dicta  dis- 
tinguant,  distincta  generatim  innuant,  regulas  exemplis  fulciant, 
exempla  in  regulis  judicent,  ita  ut  omnium  de  cadem  re  agentium 
dictorum  is  scnsus  accipi  debeat,  qui  est  ullius,  ct  qui  nulli  refragetur, 
et  plena  institutio  ea  demum  censcri  quae  omnium  virorum  Dei  sit 
vox,  (rvfji<pa>yia  et  6/i6voia." 


OF  THE  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES.        305 

been  designed  by  the  Spirit ;  but  he  did  not  deny 
that  there  had  been  actual  Churches  at  Ephesus, 
Smyrna,  and  the  rest,  which  were  primarily  ad- 
drest,  and  to  whose  condition,  at  the  time  they 
were  written,  these  Epistles  fitted.  Others,  how- 
ever, have  proceeded  to  far  greater  lengths.  They 
have  refused  to  see  any  reference  whatever  to 
Churches  actually,  at  the  time  when  this  vision 
was  seen,  subsisting  in  these  cities  of  Asia,  and  to 
their  spiritual  condition.  These  they  regard  merely 
as  the  machinery  for  the  conveyance  of  the  proph- 
ecy ;  the  seven  Epistles  not  in  the  least  expressing, 
except,  it  might  be,  here  and  there  by  accidental 
and  undesigned  coincidence,  the  actual  condition 
of  these  seven  Churches.  Despite  of  any  thing 
which  these  Epistles  seem  to  affirm  to  the  contrary, 
the  Church  of  Ephesus,  according  to  their  view, 
may  at  this  time  have  been  tolerant  of  false  teach- 
ers, and  Thyatira  intolerant  ;  Philadelphia  may 
have  been  slack  in  deeds  of  faith  and  love,  and 
Laodicea  fervent  in  spirit,  and  Sardis  with  not  a 
few  only,  but  many  names,  that  had  not  defiled 
their  garments.  No  An  tip  as  had  actually  resisted 
to  blood  at  Pergamum  ;  there  was  no  tribulation 
of  ten  days  imminent  upon  Smyrna.1 

1  Floerke,  in  an  able  work  on  the  Millennium,  Lehre  vom  tausend- 
jahrigen  Reiche,  Marburg,  1859,  is  the  latest  denier  in  toto  of  an  his- 
torical element  in  these  Epistles;  see  p.  59  sqq. 


306     ON  THE  HISTOEICO-FEOPHETICAL  INTEEPEETATION 

This  extravagance  may  be  dismissed  in  a  few 
words.  Origen  is  justly  condemned,  that,  advanc- 
ing a  step  beyond  other  allegorists,  who  slighted 
the  facts  of  the  Old  Testament  history  for  the  sake 
of  mystical  meanings  which  they  believed  to  lie 
behind  them,  he  denied,  concerning  many  events 
recorded  there  as  historical,  that  they  actually  hap- 
pened at  all  ;  rearing  the  superstructure  of  his 
mystical  meaning,  not  on  the  establishment  of  the 
literal  sense,  but  on  its  ruins.  Every  reverent 
student  of  the  "Word  of  God  must  feel  that  so  he 
often  lets  go  a  substance  in  snatching  at  a  shadow, 
that  shadow  itself  really  eluding  his  grasp  after  all. 
He  who  in  this  sense  assails  the  strong  historic  sub- 
structures of  Scripture,  may  not  know  all  which  he 
is  doing ;  but  he  is  indeed  doing  his  best  to  turn 
the  glorious  superstructure  built  on  these,  which, 
though  resting  on  earth,  pierces  heaven,  into  a 
mere  sky-pageant  painted  on  the  air,  a  cloud-palace 
waiting  to  be  shifted  and  changed  by  every  breath 
of  the  caprice  of  man,  and  at  length  fading  and 
melting  into  the  common  air.  It  was  not  without 
reason  that  Augustine,  himself  not  wholly  to  be 
acquitted  of  excesses  in  this  direction,  did  yet  urge 
so  strongly  the  necessity  of  maintaining,  before  and 
above  all,  the  historic  letter  of  the  Scripture,  what- 
ever else  to  this  might  be  superadded  (Se?7m.  ii.  6) : 
"  Ante  omnia,  fratres,  hoc  in  nomine  Domini  et  ad- 


OF  THE  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUKCHES.        307 

monemus  quantum  possunms  et  prsecipimus,  ut 
quando  auditis  exponi  sacramentum  Scripturse  nar- 
rantis  quse  gesta  sunt,  prius  illud  quod  lectum  est 
credatur  sic  gestum  quomodo  lectum  est,  ne  sub- 
tracto  fundamento  rei  gestae,  quasi  in  aere  quseratis 
sedificare."  Similar  warnings  in  his  writings  con- 
tinually recur.  "Who  indeed  could  continue  sure 
that  any  thing  presented  in  Scripture  as  history, 
with  all  apparent  marks  of  history  about  it,  was 
yet  history  at  all,  and  not  something  wholly  differ- 
ent, parable,  or  allegory,  or  prophecy,  if  these  Epis- 
tles, which  St.  John  is  bidden  to  send  to  the  seven 
Churches  of  Asia,  which  profess  to  enter  minutely 
into  their  spiritual  condition,  were  yet  never  sent 
to  them  at  all,  had  no  relation  whatever  to  them, 
more,  that  is,  than  to  any  other  portion  of  the  uni- 
versal Church  ? 

But  leaving  these,  and  addressing  ourselves  only 
to  the  more  moderate  upholders  of  the  periodic 
scheme  of  interpretation,  to  those,  namely,  who  ad- 
mit a  literal  sense,  while  they  superinduce  upon  it 
a  prophetical,  we  ask,  what  slightest  hint  or  intima- 
tion does  the  Spirit  of  God  give  that  we  have  here 
to  do  with  the  great  successive  acts  and  epochs  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  in  the  course  of  its  gradual 
evolution  here  upon  earth  ?  Where  are  the  finger- 
posts pointing  this  way  ?  "What  is  there,  for  in- 
stance, of  chronological  succession  ?     Does  not  every 


308      ON  THE  HISTOEICO-PPwOPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION 

thing,  on  the  contrary,  mark  simultaneity,  and  not 
succession  f  The  seven  candlesticks  are  seen  at  the 
same  instant ;  the  seven  Churches  named  in  the 
same  breath.  How  different  is  it  where  succession 
in  time  is  intended ;  see,  for  instance,  Dan.  ii.  32,  33, 
39,  40  ;  vii.  6,  7,  9.  On  this  matter  Marckius  says 
very  well  (Prcef.  §  52) :  "  Attamen  ut  Ecclesias  has 
agnoscamus  pro  typicis,  sive  significantibus  ex  Dei 
intentione  alias  Ecclesias  aliorum  locorum  et  tem- 
porum,  oportet  nos  a  Deo  doceri.  Typos  enim,  non 
magis  quam  allegorias,  pro  lubitu  nostro  in  Scrrptu- 
ram  inferre  licet,  cum  non  sit  l$la$  eViXwew?,  pro- 
prise  interpretationis,  2  Pet.  i.  20.  Non  sumcit  ad 
typum  constituendum  nuda  convenientia,  quae  inter 
res,  personas,  et  eventus  plurimos  a  nobis  observari 
potest,  sed  oportet  nobis  amplius  constet  de  divino 
consilio  quo  rem  similem  servire  voluerit  alteri  prae- 
significandoe,  cogitationibusque  nostris  illuc  ducen- 
dis." 

But  all  such  objections,  with  all  those  others 
which  it  would  only  be  too  easy  to  make,  might  in- 
deed be  set  aside  or  overborne,  if  any  marvellous 
coincidence  between*  these  Epistles  and  the  after- 
course  of  the  Church's  development  could  be  made 
out ;  if  history  set  its  seal  to  these,  and  attested  that 
they  were  prophecy  indeed  ;  for  when  a  key  fits 
perfectly  well  the  wards  of  a  very  complicated  lock, 
and  opens  it  without  an  effort,  it  is  difficult  not  to 


OF  THE  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHUECHES.        309 

believe  that  they  were  made  for  one  another.  But 
there  is  nothing  here  of  the  kind.  There  is  no  agree- 
ment among  themselves  on  the  part  of  the  interpre- 
ters of  the  historico-prophetical  school.  Each  one 
has  his  own  solution  of  the  enigma,  his  own  distri- 
bution of  the  several  epochs  ;  or,  if  this  is  too  much 
to  affirm,  there  is  at  any  rate  nothing  approaching 
to  a  general  consensus  among  them.  Take,  for  in- 
stance, the  distribution  of  Vitringa.  For  him 
Ephesus  represents  the  condition  of  the  Church  from 
the  day  of  Pentecost  to  the  outbreak  of  the  Decian 
persecution  ;  Smyrna,  from  the  Decian  persecution 
to  that  of  Diocletian,  both  inclusive ;  Pergamum, 
from  the  time  of  Constantine  until  the  close  of  the 
seventh  century  ;  Thyatira,  the  Church  in  its  mis- 
sion to  the  nations  during  the  first  half  of  the  middle 
ages  ;  Sardis,  from  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century 
to  the  Reformation  ;  Philadelphia,  the  first  century 
of  the  Reformation ;  Laodicea,  the  Reformed  Church 
at  the  time  when  he  was  writing  ;  compare  Lange, 
Das  Apostolische  Zeitalter,  vol.  ii.  p.  472,  for  a  near- 
ly similar  distribution. 

There  are  two  or  three  fortunate  coincidences 
here  between  the  assumed  prophecy  and  the  fact ; 
without  such  indeed  the  whole  notion  must  have 
been  abandoned  long  ago  as  hopeless ;  such  could 
scarcely  have  been  avoided.  Smyrna,  for  instance, 
represents  excellently  well  the  ecclesia  pressa  in  its 


310     ON  THE  HISTORICO-PEOPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION 

two  last  and  most  terrible  struggles  with  heathen 
Eome ;  so  too  for  such  Protestant  expositors  as  see 
the  Papacy  in  the  scarlet  woman  of  Babylon,  the 
Jezebel  of  Thyatira  appears  exactly  at  the  right 
time,  coincides  with  the  Papacy  at  its  height,  yet 
at  the  same  time  with  judgment  at  the  door  in  the 
great  revolt  which  was  even  then  preparing.  But 
I  would  ask  any  one  fairly  grounded  in  the  subject 
whether  there  is  any  true  articulation  of  Church 
history  in  the  distribution  above  made  ?  any  gen- 
eral felicity  of  correspondence  between  what  are 
averred  to  be  the  prophetic  outlines  with  the  his- 
toric realities  adduced  as  fulfilling  them?  Take, 
for  instance,  Philadelphia,  as  representing  the  Re- 
formation period.  The  praise  bestowed  on  the 
Philadelphian  Angel  may  be  said  to  culminate  in 
these  words,  "  Behold,  I  have  set  before  thee  an  open 
door,  and  no  man  can  shut  it "  (iii.  8).  Can  any 
thing,  on  the  contrary,  be  sadder  than  the  way  in 
which,  when  "  an  open  door  "  was  set  before  the 
Reformers,  they  suffered  it  to  so  great  an  extent  to 
be  closed  on  them  again  ?  There  was  a  time,  some 
five  and  twenty  or  thirty  years  after  Luther  had  be- 
gun to  preach,  when  Austria  and  Bavaria  and  Styria 
and  Poland,  and,  in  good  part,  France,  had  all  been 
won  for  the  Reformation.  Thirty  years  more  had 
not  elapsed  when  they  all  were  lost  again  ;  and  it 
was  confined  within  the  far  narrower  limits  which 


OF  THE  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES.        311 

it  occupies  at  the  present  day  (see  Ranke,  History 
of  the  Popes  in  the  Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth 
Centuries) — this  door,  once  open,  having  been  clo- 
sed mainly  through  the  guilt  of  those  contests,  any 
thing  but  Philadelphian  (for  the  names  too  are 
pressed  into  service)  among  the  Keformers  them- 
selves. 

Then,  again,  other  interpreters,  as  I  have  already 
observed,  distribute  the  epochs  according  to  schemes 
altogether  diverse  from  this.  Thus  it  is  far  more 
common  among  the  Protestant  theologians  of  the 
seventeenth  century  to  apportion,  not  five  Churches, 
but  only  the  first  four,  to  the  pre-Reformation  peri- 
od ;  to  claim,  as  Brightman  does,  Philadelphia, 
with  all  its  graces,  for  themselves,  and,  as  must 
necessarily  follow,  to  contemplate  Sardis  as  repre- 
senting the  Church  of  the  actual  Reformation. 
Certainly  the  Reformation  had  blots  and  blemishes 
enough  ;  but  its  faults  were  those  of  zeal  and  pas- 
sion ;  had  nothing  in  common  with  that  hypocritical 
form  of  godliness,  that  death  under  shows  of  life, 
imputed  to  Sardis  ;  and  one  might  have  expected 
that  any  dutiful  child  of  the  Reformation,  who  at 
all  felt  the  immense  debt  of  gratitude  which  he  and 
the  whole  Church  owed  to  it,  notwithstanding  all 
its  shortcomings,  would  have  hesitated  long  as  to 
the  accuracy  of  a  scheme  which  should  brand  it 
with  this  dishonour.     See  on  this,  Marckius,  Prcef. 


312       THE  HISTORICO-PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

§  55  ;  and  on  the  other  hand  as  saying,  and  saying 
well,  whatever  there  is  to  be  said  in  support  of  the 
historico-prophetical  school  in  this  particular  aspect, 
see  Henry  More,  at  pp.  756  sqq.,  in  his  treatise  al- 
ready referred  to. 

Much  more  might  be  urged  on  the  arbitrary  arti- 
ficial character  of  all  the  attempted  adaptations  of ' 
Church  history  to  these  Epistles ;  but  this  Essay 
has  already  run  to  a  greater  length  jthan  I  intend- 
ed ;  and  indeed  it  is  not  needful  to  say  more. 
"Where  there  were  no  preestablished  harmonies  in 
the  Divine  intention  between  the  one  and  the  other, 
as  I  am  persuaded  here  there  were  none,  it  could 
not  have  been  otherwise.  The  multitude  of  disser- 
tations, essays,  books,  which  have  been  written,  and 
still  are  being  written,  in  support  of  this  scheme  of 
interpretation,  must  remain  a  singular  monument 
of  wasted  ingenuity  and  misapplied  toil ;  of  the  dis- 
appointment which  must  result  from  a  futile  look- 
ing intaJScripture  for  that  which  is  not  to  be  found 
there, — from  a  resolution  to  draw  out  from  it  that 
which  he  who  draws  out  must  first  himself  have  put 
in.  Men  will  never  thus  make  Scripture  richer. 
They  will  have  made  it  much  poorer  for  themselves, 
if  they  nourish  themselves  out  of  it  with  the  fan- 
cies of  men,  in  place  of  the  truths  of  God. 


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